The Patriots will take a step back whenever Bill Belichick decides to call it a career. That's what happens when the greatest football coach of all time is no longer calling the shots.
But the sky might not start falling in New England whenever Belichick retires. The future Hall of Famer himself very well could make sure of that.
Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer, who previously covered the Patriots, joined "The Rich Eisen Show" on Monday and suggested a potential priority for Belichick in the twilight years of his career.
"I think whenever he leaves he's gonna wanna leave it in good shape," Breer told Eisen. "One thing I can remember from covering him on the beat, and this is years ago, was he -- I remember he felt like Bill Parcells, who obviously had been his boss, had left a couple of teams in pretty rough shape. I think there was sort of this resolve whenever he left New England, he wasn't going to do that.
"He wasn't going to walk away from a team when it wasn't in better shape than when he found it. I do think he's driven to prove he can win without (Tom) Brady and win at a high level without Brady. I do think he wants to leave it -- whoever he's leaving it to, whether that's Bill O'Brien or Matt Patricia or whoever it is that winds up succeeding him -- I think he wants to leave it in good shape for whoever is the succeeding coach after him."
At this point, it's tough to predict when Belichick will hang 'em up. The Patriots head coach previously said he wouldn't work into his 70s, but he's going to put his 60s behind him Saturday and is showing no signs of slowing down. The emergence of Mac Jones might have breathed some new life into Belichick as well.
So, the Belichick swan song probably isn't in the very near future. But whenever it comes to fruition, Patriots fans shouldn't go into full-blown panic mode.
