Patriots’ Bill Belichick Clarifies Odd ‘Last 25 Years’ Comment

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, as he is one to do, ruffled some feathers earlier this week when he made an odd comment regarding the team’s lack of recent success.

At the NFL’s annual meetings in Phoenix, Belichick was asked why Patriots fans should be optimistic regarding potential success down the road. His response was a tad off-putting.

“The last 25 years,” he said.

Though some people thought it was hilarious, that answer drew criticism from around the NFL world. The Patriots haven’t won a playoff game since their Super Bowl LIII win in February 2019, so the past three of those 25 years haven’t exactly been chock full of success.

Thus, came a rare explanation from the hoodie.

“We’re not resting on our past laurels; that’s not the message to the team or the fans,” Belichick said at LSU’s pro day Wednesday, per Jim McBride of The Boston Globe. “We have never operated that way and aren’t now.”

The clarification seems to indicate that Belichick was answering from the perspective of Patriots fans, but he didn’t back down from the comment completely.

“I think we’ve been pretty competitive every year that I’ve been here with the Patriots,” Belcihcick said, per McBride. “That’s our overall plan. So, I expect it to continue that way. I think the team has been managed pretty well over the last 20-however-many years. So, I think we’ll continue managing it the way we’ve been competitive every year. I expect we’ll continue to be competitive.”

The difference between being competitive and being the most dominant team in football is one that Patriots fans may not fully grasp considering that history Belichick seems to love talking about. They may want to get used to it, however.

That’s what life is like as a normal NFL fan.