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Is Belichick Best Coach Ever?

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Gil Brandt just put together his list of best coaches he's seen over his long career in the NFL. His top 5 includes the following:

1. Belichick
2. Shula
3. Lombardi
4. Landry
5. Walsh

I know it's tough to talk about Belichick on a Dolphins website. I'd imagine it's the same with the Jets and Bills. For that matter, I have a friend who is a Rams fan and he firmly believes Belichick knew the first 20 plays the Rams used in that super bowl loss to New England. Of course that's something that has been alleged. Along with Spygate, Deflate gate has been an issue and cheating allegations surround Belichick.

Here's the thing. I dislike the Patriots and Belichick. But, if I'm looking at things honestly he does deserve to be somewhere in the top 5. He deserves to be in the discussion for number one as well.

This is not to demean Don Shula in anyway. Shula was amazing. His 347 wins, six super bowl appearances and the fact that he almost won a super bowl with David Woodley at quarterback speaks volumes. Having two losing seasons in 33 is amazing as well.

Bellichick has also taken teams to six super bowls winning four. I know fans out there will say that New England could easily be 0-6 in those games, that all of them went down to the wire and the Patriots never dominated in any super bowl win. That may be true, but the opposite is as well. New England could just as easily be 6-0 in those games. Plus, I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of New England in the big game.

Like Shula, Belichick has managed to win when his starting quarterback goes down, or is suspended. The Patriots were 11-5 with Matt Cassell and 3-1 this year without Tom Brady. That's a .700 winning percentage.

As much as I hate to admit it, Belichick is up there amonst the best....maybe #1.
 
Maybe, but come back to me when he loses his Hall of Fame QB and has to change his entire offense long term to a totally different style and scheme. Come back to me when he coaches for 30 years with only TWO losing seasons. Them we will talk.
 
Is Bill a great coach yes? would he have won 4 super bowls without lucking into Brady?No and without those 4 super bowls we wouldn't be asking this question. Truly elite all time great QB's can change your entire franchise making decent team into playoff contenders. If he didn't luck into Brady who is at worst the 3rd best QB of all time he doesn't win in 2001--he went with 5-11 in 2000 with a 28 year old Bledsoe so i can only assume he wouldn't all of sudden win a super bowl the following year. If Bledsoe doesn't get replaced with Brady he probably plays in NE at least until 2004 so they probably don't win those back to back Super Bowls either. He might have gone to the playoffs but just like Bill Cowher he would of had to wait a while--until he got that elite QB before he would win a super bowl.

Don Shula took 4 different QBs and 2 different teams to the super bowl, that to me is far more impressive in 3 different decades at that with completely different teams.

Bill is 54-62 with Brady--Don Shula only had 2 losing seasons in 33 seasons, Bill has 5 losing seasons without Brady . Great coach but no not the best ever. Bill and Brady are the greatest coach/qb combo though.
 
Very subjective topic which has no definitive answer, nor will ever have.

Is Belichick a credible "best ever" option for someone to throw out?

Of course he is. Anyone who says no is deluding themselves.
 
Bill Walsh. No question. His coaching tree is massive and successful and the west coast offense still has variations run till this day. The Hoodie's coaching tree looks like a stump. It's not only how you coach when you're a coach but how you effect the league after you're gone.
 
BahamaFinFan78 said:
Maybe, but come back to me when he loses his Hall of Fame QB and has to change his entire offense long term to a totally different style and scheme. Come back to me when he coaches for 30 years with only TWO losing seasons. Them we will talk.
Click to expand...

Come back to me when Belichick misses the playoffs 6 times with Tom Brady as his QB.
 
Shula was offered an opposing team's playbook and declined. Belicheck has been associated with multiple accounts of cheating and game manipulation. Yes he can gameplan better than almost everybody else, but integrity should count in a coach and leader. You can't put a cheater at the top of a list full of outstanding men like this.
 
multistage said:
Shula is.

Off with your head.
Click to expand...

He couldn't win a super bowl with the most prolific passing QB of the time, but he's the greatest coach of all time.

---------- Post added at 08:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 PM ----------
DolFan in NE said:
Bill Walsh. No question. His coaching tree is massive and successful and the west coast offense still has variations run till this day. The Hoodie's coaching tree looks like a stump. It's not only how you coach when you're a coach but how you effect the league after you're gone.
Click to expand...

Bill Walsh would be my answer too
 
SF Dolphin Fan said:
Gil Brandt just put together his list of best coaches he's seen over his long career in the NFL. His top 5 includes the following:

1. Belichick
2. Shula
3. Lombardi
4. Landry
5. Walsh

I know it's tough to talk about Belichick on a Dolphins website. I'd imagine it's the same with the Jets and Bills. For that matter, I have a friend who is a Rams fan and he firmly believes Belichick knew the first 20 plays the Rams used in that super bowl loss to New England. Of course that's something that has been alleged. Along with Spygate, Deflate gate has been an issue and cheating allegations surround Belichick.

Here's the thing. I dislike the Patriots and Belichick. But, if I'm looking at things honestly he does deserve to be somewhere in the top 5. He deserves to be in the discussion for number one as well.

This is not to demean Don Shula in anyway. Shula was amazing. His 347 wins, six super bowl appearances and the fact that he almost won a super bowl with David Woodley at quarterback speaks volumes. Having two losing seasons in 33 is amazing as well.

Bellichick has also taken teams to six super bowls winning four. I know fans out there will say that New England could easily be 0-6 in those games, that all of them went down to the wire and the Patriots never dominated in any super bowl win. That may be true, but the opposite is as well. New England could just as easily be 6-0 in those games. Plus, I have a feeling we haven't seen the last of New England in the big game.

Like Shula, Belichick has managed to win when his starting quarterback goes down, or is suspended. The Patriots were 11-5 with Matt Cassell and 3-1 this year without Tom Brady. That's a .700 winning percentage.

As much as I hate to admit it, Belichick is up there amonst the best....maybe #1.
Click to expand...

I think it's more telling he couldn't win anything with Marino. He absolutely failed Marino.
 
I hate the he's the best stuff, such as who is #1 and then #2. I think Beli is top 5 as is Shula and the others. I would cut all my hair off to have any one of them coaching the Fins.
 
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mfish41 said:
He couldn't win a super bowl with the most prolific passing QB of the time, but he's the greatest coach of all time.[COLOR="Silver"
Click to expand...

Between 1983 and 1996 only 1 AFC team won the super bowl and that was the 1983 Raiders, it was tough for any AFC team to win a super bowl in that time frame, a lot of those 80's super bowl winners will go down as some of the best teams ever than you had the dynasty of the Cowboys in the 90's. Its kinda like being an NBA team during the Jordan era...your just not going to win. Now obviously a lot of that falls on Shula for not having better drafts, he probably shoulda gave up his GM powers.
 
mfish41 said:
I know what you meant. Shula missed the playoffs 6 times with Marino as his starting QB. That is not the greatest coach of all time.
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i don't see any correlation. Poor argument. Having a franchise QB in those days didn't guarantee you a playoff spot like today. If Marino played under roger goodells rules he'd never miss the playoffs and would have a bunch of rings. Another poster pointed out - and I have railed on this on this forum before - from '83-'97 the NFC won every SB. Why? Huge o-lines and run games. The AFC teams were more finesse. The Bills came the closest the one year and they were probably the best team during that era to NOT win.
 
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