If Bill Belichick is doing what he’s being accused of doing – and there’s every reason to believe that he is – then no one should be surprised.

The New England Patriots head coach is doing the same thing with his quarterback, Tom Brady, that he did with the quarterback he inherited when he was hired to coach the Browns in 1991, Bernie Kosar. That is, just as Belichick had the nerve to cut the iconic Kosar when he thought he was on the downside of his career, he is – or, perhaps was — laying the groundwork to cut ties with Brady because he believes the future Pro Football Hall of Famer is nearing his end.

That’s why Belichick balked and balked at trading Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers, finally giving in and making the deal only when his boss, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, insisted upon it. Belichick wanted to continue to groom Garoppolo and have him ready to take over sooner rather than later.

He did it to Kosar so he could insert Vinny Testaverde.

He did it to Drew Bledsoe in New England so he could insert Brady.

And he was doing it to Brady so he could insert Garoppolo.

Belichick doesn’t care who the player is. He doesn’t care what the player has done in his career. He doesn’t care how popular the player is with the fans. He doesn’t care about the shock and awe that everybody will have when the player is benched, or completely jettisoned.

He doesn’t care about any of that – not one bit, ever.

Belichick cares about one and only thing, and that’s winning games and championships. And he’s willing to do whatever he has to do to give his team the best chance to win going forward. Championships that have already been won are in the past. They don’t interest him. It’s only the ones that have yet to be won that interest him. It’s the carrot on a stick that drives each and every day, each and every year.

He knows pro football can sometimes – often times – be a brutally impersonal business, but he has no problem making those tough and unpopular decisions. The criticism he takes rolls off his back like water off a duck’s back. He doesn’t care. He has the full confidence that he will be proven right in the long run. That stems from the fact that in almost every case, he has been proven right.

That’s exactly what’s going on now, and Belchick doesn’t care that having Brady has made this over-a-decade-and-a-half run by the Patriots the greatest in NFL history, and has made him a future Hall of Fame coach. Doing so would make him soft, and his team less successful.

That’s not the Bill Belichick way.

We in Cleveland know that all too well.