By MIKE REISS
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Wednesday that the team’s championship success during its 23-year tenure is not part of his mindset as he looks ahead to the 2023 season.
“We’re not resting on our past laurels, that’s not a message to the team or to the fans,” Belichick told the Boston Globe at Louisiana State’s Pro Day. “We’ve never acted like that before and we’re not doing it now.”
Belichick’s comments to the Globe came two days after he held a question-and-answer session with a larger group of reporters at the NFL’s annual meeting in Phoenix. Towards the end of that 28-minute media session, Belichick was asked what he would say to fans to give them reason to be optimistic about the future.
He replied, “The last 25 years.”
Belichick’s reference to the past caught the attention of some of his former players, including ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi and longtime tight end Benjamin Watson, who noted that Belichick often stressed to them that the past doesn’t matter. That may have contributed to Belichick’s follow-up with the Globe on Wednesday.
Belichick is entering his 24th season as Patriots coach and has won six Super Bowls and nine AFC championships during that span while posting a 292-120 record in the regular season and 30-12 in the playoffs. Including his tenure as coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1991 to 1995, he has a total of 329 career wins, with only the late Don Shula (347) ahead of him on the all-time (including playoff) winning list.
But the Patriots finished 8-9 last season, and in 2020 they were 7-9. Those under-.500 seasons ended a 10-7 campaign in 2021 that included a blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills in the wildcard round of the playoffs involved.
Caesars Sportsbook has the Patriots at 70-1 to win the Super Bowl this season, the team’s longest preseason Super Bowl odds under Belichick. According to SportsOddsHistory.com, this is the franchise’s longest preseason Super Bowl odds since 1993, when it was 100-1.
The last time the Patriots went into a season at least 50-1 to win the Super Bowl was in 2001 when they defeated the St. Louis Rams 20-17 in Super Bowl XXXVI to claim their first title with Belichick and Tom Brady to win.
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