Bill Belichick seemingly has nothing left to prove as an NFL head coach, but Skip Bayless believes the future Hall of Famer still wants to accomplish one lofty goal before calling it a career.
A popular debate within the football world in recent years is who deserves more credit for the Patriots’ unprecedented run of success: Belichick or Tom Brady? It’s by all accounts a useless argument, but Bayless believes Belichick wants it to be settled once and for all.
“It is very clear to all of us that Bill Belichick has become obsessed with winning a championship without Tom Brady, or at least trying to,” Bayless said Tuesday on FOX Sports 1’s “Undisputed.” “He wants to prove, ‘I can do this without that guy because I want 100 percent of the credit instead of whatever you guys are debating about.’ …He wants 100 percent. He wants to cement his legacy as the greatest head coach ever because now there’s a big ol’ asterisk at the bottom of it: ‘Tom Brady was his quarterback.'”
Sure, life without Brady might be something that’s crossed Belichick’s mind at some point in time, but it’s tough to imagine it’s something the legendary head coach is longing for. Belichick probably also doesn’t have to worry about his spot in NFL history. Most already regard him as the greatest football coach who’s ever lived, which will be further cemented if the Patriots win a seventh Super Bowl title this February. It doesn’t really seem like anyone truly is knocking Belichick down a peg for racking up accolades alongside Brady, as nearly all the coaches ever included in the “greatest ever” debate worked with a high-end signal-caller.
But whether Belichick wants to lead a team without Brady or not, it could become his reality as soon as next season. Brady is eligible to hit free agency next offseason, and it doesn’t appear to be a lock that he’ll return to Foxboro.
