Barber: Why Patriots' Bill Belichick is the greatest NFL coach ever

Sean McVay was the hottest name in NFL coaching even before he guided the Rams to a victory over the Saints in the NFC championship game Sunday. Expect the run-up to Super Bowl 53 to be a two-week tribute to the 33-on-Thursday McVay - his brainy offensive designs, his youthful energy, his relationship with just about everybody who filled an NFL coaching vacancy this offseason.

Also, expect McVay to be outmaneuvered in the big game. Because the man on the opposite sideline is Bill Belichick.

Belichick may be the greatest coach of all time in any sport, though I’m sort of partial to John Wooden. He’s definitely the greatest football coach in history.

This is an uncomfortable thing to write, because (a) Belichick is about as likable as a parking meter and (b) this is the spawning ground of Bill Walsh, who as recently as two or three years ago could be plausibly debated as the greatest NFL coach of all time. There simply isn’t an argument anymore. The grouch in the hoodie has run away with the title.

Belichick now ranks third in career regular-season victories (328, behind Don Shula and George Halas) and 10th in career regular-season winning percentage (.680). His 30 postseason wins are 50 percent better than Tom Landry, who is in second place. Of the six gentlemen who own a better postseason winning percentage, only Vince Lombardi (9-1) has a sample size of more than five games.

These are mere numbers, but Belichick has compiled them in an era when it shouldn’t be possible. The modern NFL is skewed toward parity, through both free agency and the draft. The same teams shouldn’t be able to win every year, and rarely do. Except for the Patriots.

The last time Belichick’s team won fewer than 10 regular-season games was 2002. The last time the Patriots failed to make the playoffs was 2008 - when they went 11-5. And here they are, playing in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years.

Belichick and his staff are the ultimate handymen. The Patriots often start slowly. Somehow, they figure out their team’s flaws and get them corrected. Every opponent is trying to do the same thing. Few of them make it work. None of them do it year in and year out.

It’s true that Tom Brady, the most accomplished quarterback in NFL history, has been there every step of the way. Neither man would have been nearly as successful without the other, just as with Walsh and Joe Montana. They’re two sides of a coin.

Since this is 49ers territory, and since Walsh is the pre-Belichick gold standard, let’s do some comparison.

Walsh’s legend goes beyond wins and losses. He introduced a scheme, the West Coast offense, that changed the NFL for years to come. Belichick can’t claim anything close to that (though it’s true the Patriots have been at the forefront of the Age of the Slot Receiver, starting with Wes Welker). Walsh has the advantage here.

Likewise, many of Walsh’s assistants became successful head coaches in their own right, like Mike Holmgren, George Seifert and Dennis Green. For a while, Walsh was the Johnny Appleseed of NFL coaching trees. Belichick’s record is the opposite. His assistants have gained fame in New England, but have generally fallen on their faces after moving on.

According to data on Pro Football Reference, 10 Belichick assistants have gone on to stalk the sidelines as head coaches (including interim coaches). All told, the 10 Belichicklets have a regular-season record of 177-253. His isn’t a coaching tree, it’s a spray bottle of coaching Roundup.

But you can look at this in two ways. One is that Walsh nurtured and developed his assistants in a way that Belichick has not. The other is that the entire Patriots operation is a function of one man’s system, will and organizational skills. Put Josh McDaniels or Romeo Crennel in New England, and they thrive. Send them somewhere else, and they stink. You can make your own call on this one.

For the most part, there is one way to judge a football coach, and that is his ability to win games. And Belichick has done that more consistently, and for a far longer period, than Walsh. Niners fans like to point out that Walsh never lost a Super Bowl. He also missed out on playing in the Big Game in 7 of his 10 years in San Francisco. And Belichick is only getting better. It has been eight years since the Pats failed to win a postseason game; that happened to the 49ers in three of Walsh’s final four years.

And here’s the thing: Belichick has done this in the era of free agency. Walsh was brilliant enough to draft Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Jerry Rice and Roger Craig. But the labor structure of the day allowed the 49ers to keep those players around for as long as the team wanted them. That hasn’t been true for the 21st Century Patriots. Athletes leave for greener pastures, and keeping someone like Brady for 19 years means skimping on other parts of the roster.

I like to look at the running backs Belichick has relied on in New England. In 20 years, he’s had just five 1,000-yard rushers: Antowain Smith in 2001, Corey Dillon in 2004, BenJarvus Green-Ellis (really) in 2010, Stevan Ridley (no, seriously) in 2012 and LaGarrette Blount in 2016. The only Patriots draft pick in the bunch is Ridley, a third-rounder. For the most part, Belichick and his staff have grabbed other teams’ castoff runners and turned them into Super Bowl contributors.

Sunday, the New England backfield trio was Sony Michel (a rookie who was the 31st overall pick last April), James White (a fourth-round pick in 2014) and Rex Burkhead (sixth-rounder by the Bengals in 2013). They combined for 249 yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns against the Chiefs.

Bum Phillips once said of Don Shula, “He can take his’n and beat your’n. Or he can take your’n and beat his’n.” His son, Wade Phillips, is the Rams’ defensive coordinator. Wade should resurrect the quote for Belichick.

I suppose there’s one more factor we should address here. Some 49ers fans (or maybe just NFL fans) will argue that, unlike Walsh, Belichick is a known cheater and should be disqualified from the World’s Greatest Coach debate.

Please dismiss this notion with haste. Deflategate was a mountain fashioned from a dirt clod. The Patriots’ tendency to fudge their weekly injury report is annoying, but immaterial. The only real black eye for Belichick is Spygate. This was true dirty dealing, and the NFL was right to fine the coach $500,000 and ding the Patriots for a first-round draft choice. But if you think that filming an NFL opponent’s sideline signals from an unapproved camera location can explain eight Super Bowls (and counting) and five championships (and counting), then you’re not paying attention.

I have to admit, I found myself rooting for both the Chargers and the Chiefs in their recent playoff games against the Patriots. I’m as sick as these guys are you are. I, too, am ready for some new blood.

But we all have to admit it. Bill Belichick isn’t just the greatest football coach we’ve ever seen. He’s lapping the field at this point.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.