Thank you, coach!
Father Time remains undefeated.
Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick, like Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Rodney Harrison, Vince Wilfork, Willie McGinest and Tedy Bruschi have all moved on.
They won’t be walking through the locker-room door anymore. And that’s how it should be. Loss is part of life, how you cope with it is the tricky part.
Bill Belichick will land on his feet. It’s a fact that NFL coaches of his caliber are in demand. Plus, he’s just 26 wins away from becoming the most successful coach in NFL history. He won’t stop so we won’t either.
Belichick has 302 wins, George Halas, co-founder of the NFL, is next with 318 and Don Shula sits atop the pantheon with 328 pro football victories. Halas and Shula have left this moral coil, so it’s up to Bill to keep pushing.
That record, and we wager he’ll surpass it, will be a victory for New England. A lion’s share of that historic achievement will have been set right here in Foxboro.
Like Bill Russell, Carl Yastrzemski, Bobby Orr, Larry Bird and (name your favorite Boston athlete) before, Bill Belichick will “always be a Patriot,” as he and Bob Kraft agreed Thursday when the two parted ways.
Seeing the head coach move on to set records elsewhere is just a natural progression. Layoffs happen. So does turnover. Change is just constant.
A legacy, however, is something not so easily shed.
Bill Belichick’s legacy here as a Patriot is one we believe is set in stone. His work ethic was unparalleled. That alone made him a champion.
Every Bostonian we’ve met can run circles around anyone else from the other parts of the country or globe. Or, we at least brag about it. There’s something in the water, or air, here that makes us all want to overachieve.
At least we try like hell to do so. As former Labor Secretary and Hub Mayor Marty Walsh told the Herald for this special edition, Bill Belichick can take a lot of credit for the economic success of the city. His winning attitude put people in seats — at bars, restaurants, Gillette Stadium, along the Duck Boat routes, at pro shops, classrooms. The list is endless.
For that we thank you coach for setting the bar high and leading the way. Go break that record. And when you do, come back home for a victory lap.