Mike Lombardi Still Believes In Bill Belichick

Mike Lombardi Still Believes In Bill Belichick

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is obviously one of the greatest head coaches of all time, but he can’t draft weapons and his offenses have been awful since Tom Brady left after the 2019 season.

Without Brady, Belichick is 219-64 in the regular season and 30-11 in the postseason. With all other quarterbacks, he is 81-95 in the regular season and 1-2 in the postseason. This year, the Patriots sit at 2-7 and are ranked No. 26 in terms of total offense with Mac Jones behind center.

Under the tutelage of Belichick, the Patriots have won six Super Bowls, and he has just surpassed 300 wins, however, there is increasing chatter that Belichick could be on his way out from the Patriots and — at the bare minimum — his seat is getting hotter.

Former NFL GM Mike Lombardi isn’t giving up on his old friend.

“Look, everyone thinks he’s lost his fastball,” Lombardi said on the “Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday. “I disagree. He works harder than any coach I’ve ever known. He’s still on top of everything.

“He can manage the cap. He understands the value,” Lombardi added. “Everybody can take a shot because he’s down right now. I think he’s one of the greatest coaches of all time and whoever, if he goes somewhere else, or if he stays, they’re going to be very happy.”

The Patriots will have over $100 million in cap space next year, but have shown an inability to effectively use that money in free agency as a general manager.

If the team does move on, I don’t see any way Belichick accepts a job where he isn’t a head coach and a GM, even though he’s kind of bad at it.

“One thing I think people misconstrue about Bill; Bill’s not a dictator. He’s not Fidel Castro. He’s not running a country down there,” Lombardi said. “Bill takes input. Bill listens and Bill takes advice. … So this idea that he has to have all the authority, no. What Bill wants more than anything is the ability to control the culture. That’s more important to Bill than having all the authority.”

According to a report last week, the Patriots could move on from Belichick if the team loses to the Indianapolis Colts in Germany on Sunday, and they apparently have a “home run hire” in mind if they do just that.

Patriots, Kraft Reportedly Have ‘Home Run’ Hire If They Fire Bill Belichick

“He’s having a bad season,” Lombardi said. “They’re not a good team for a lot of reasons. It’s just not one person, right? It’s not just one thing.”

Lombardi believes one bad season isn’t enough to fire a legendary coach, however, the storied franchise is losing patience fast.

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