In his final playoff game as coach of the Patriots, Bill Belichick suffered a 47-17 loss to the Bills.
Four years later, the Bills are looking for a replacement to Sean McDermott, whose seven straight playoff appearances weren’t enough to stave off a pink slip.
So if they’re willing to venture outside the box and interview former NFL quarterback and current high-school coach Philip Rivers, why not consider a six-time Super Bowl winner and current college head coach?
The fact that Belichick isn’t an immediate, no-brainer option for the Bills (or any other team) shows how far, and how fast, his NFL star has fallen. His name hasn’t come up once in the current cycle, despite 10 total openings.
Beyond the ill-advised decision to put a defensive coordinator in charge of the New England offense in 2022 and the baggage that a coach who previously railed against distractions has brought to Chapel Hill, there’s a nagging concern that Belichick would try to take over the entire operation.
Still, Belichick’s ability to cook up and implement a masterful game plan has never been questioned. And the Bills know it well.
Beyond Belichick’s 37-12 record against Buffalo from 2000 through 2023, he had a direct role in giving the Bills a loss in their first, and best, shot at a Super Bowl win. His game plan for slowing down the K-Gun offense, which focused on forcing them to run the ball (and shorten the game), delivered a 20-19 win for the Giants in Super Bowl XXV with a backup quarterback.
If the Bills are now casting a net wide enough to include a candidate with no pro or college coaching experience, why not talk to Belichick? Perhaps recent events have made him willing (and able) to just coach the team, and nothing else. Sure, he’d have to cut the cord with his consigliere, Mike Lombardi. And both owner Terry Pegula and G.M. Brandon Beane would need to be willing to make the leap of faith that Belichick could be trusted to just coach the team, and not try to run the show.
Buffalo’s obvious goal is to get over the top. If so, shouldn’t they at least talk to Belichick? Do their homework on him? Talk through whether there’s a way to make it work in a way that would deliver to Bills Mafia the Super Bowl win they’ve coveted since the moment Scott Norwood’s 47-yard field-goal attempt missed the mark?
Again, if they’re trying to figure out whether it could work with Rivers, whose NFL experience never resulted in playing in a Super Bowl, they should at least be discussing whether the greatest game-day coach in NFL history and his fists-full of rings could return to the AFC East, wreak havoc on a long-time employer he now hates, and potentially bust through the “proverbial playoff wall” like the Kool-Aid Man on bath salts.
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