Bill Belichick Then and Now: A Tale of Two Sidelines
When the Browns’ Bill Belichick made his NFL head-coaching debut on Sept. 1, 1991 against Dallas at Cleveland Stadium, I was amazed — and heartened — by the way he and defensive coordinator Nick Saban stayed a step or two or three ahead schematically of the Cowboys of head coach Jimmy Johnson.
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With the fact that many of their great players of the last half of the 1980s had gotten old all at the same time, the Browns did not have as much talent as the emerging Cowboys, but they were still able to take the game into the fourth quarter before finally running out of gas and losing 26-14.
Fast-forward exactly 34 years later to Monday night when Belichick, now at North Carolina, with Saban there as an analyst on ESPN’s Gameday crew, made his college head-coaching debut against visiting Texas Christian. I was amazed — and disheartened — by the way he, his son, Steve Belichick, the defensive coordinator, and former Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens, the offensive coordinator, stayed a step or two or three behind Horned Frogs head coach Sonny Dykes and his staff. The Tar Heels kept running the ball up the middle into a mass of humanity again and again and again, getting stuffed almost every time, and on defense, their cornerbacks played 10-12 yards off the receivers, allowing TCU to throw underneath without any resistance — a simple pitch-and-catch, as it were — and move the ball up and down the field in chunks.
No adjustments, even though Belichick could have interjected and done it since the calls were going through his headset. It was hard to watch.
The Heels lost 48-14, and it wasn’t even that close. TCU called off the dogs and sat on the ball for a good deal of the second half,
The biggest part of me wants to believe that Belichick will figure it out fix it, because that’s what he’s always done.
But there’s also a part of me who is wondering if this is the beginning of the end for Belichick, building on the poor seasons he had during the last part of his tenure at New England after quarterback Tom Brady left.
This has happened any number of times through pro football history to even the greatest head coaches when they stay too long and refuse to retire before Father Time steps in and decides to retire them.
Paul Brown did not win an NFL championship during his last seven years with the Browns, going just 7-6-1 in the final one in 1962.
The aforementioned Jimmy Johnson, by then with the Miami Dolphins, bowed out with a 62-7 postseason loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Tom Landry, Johnson’s predecessor at Dallas, was 3-13 in his last season, including suffering a late 24-21 loss at Cleveland during which he just looked lost.
Chuck Noll struggled a great deal during his last years with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The list goes on and on.
Now, has Bill Belichick joined that group? Or will he soon do do?
We’ll see.
Steve King
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