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ANOTHER WRECK FOR THE BEARS: BELICHICK IN COLLEGE BECAUSE OF HALAS HALL
Guess who was tainted in an ESPN story? Belichick was “sickened” by the NFL’s politics and knew he wouldn’t be hired in Chicago, assuming Warren, Poles and McCaskey would mar his Super Bowl supremacy
He issued a “big f— you to the NFL.” If that is true about Bill Belichick, why not throw him an expletive-overflowing party in a year? Let him invite his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, who can bring along Olivia Rodrigo, Zendaya and perhaps Hawk Tuah Girl. We will invite Bears bosses Kevin Warren and Ryan Poles, who were viewed by Belichick as impediments in obtaining “the most attractive” of current NFL coaching jobs.
That’s a compliment for a team unable to escape generational meltdowns. Too bad the Bears are seeking their sixth coach in 12 years, which Belichick could have addressed if Poles and Warren weren’t scared of his presence. George McCaskey would have banned his mother from visiting Halas Hall. Oh, the cussing — never mind that he won six Super Bowls with the Patriots when the locals haven’t won one in almost 40 years.
So if North Carolina outperforms the Bears — which might be a 6-6 season compared to 5-12 in Chicago — Belichick can launch a campus food fight with Poles and Warren in Chapel Bill. All season, on Pat McAfee’s show and other forums, he ripped the front office for errors in building a credible franchise. Any chance of hiring the dynasty creator would have required apologies from the CEO and general manager, who would have quit and handed over their power. Halas Hall thinks Belichick is a horror movie. He thinks Halas Hall is a Bozo the Clown segment.
He was correct, in surmising with football friends in an ESPN piece, for concluding the Bears wouldn’t have considered him more than trash at the bottom of a can. They are why he spent Thursday at Kenan Stadium, where he held his father’s No. 38 sweatshirt from his days as a UNC assistant. Let’s see how the new coach in Lake Forest compares to Belichick. If the Bears are the reason he left the NFL — along with his former owner, Bob Kraft, who badmouthed him despite his New England titles — then we’ll determine if he does a better job in his first college season than God Only Knows at Soldier Field. Let’s turn this into a field contest, and for those who muddle Belichick with naughty names, he is the best coach the pro game has seen. I doubt how he’ll deal with parents in living rooms or donors in a backroom or NIL seekers with their lawyers.
Or, as Kliff Kingsbury said: “I’ll have to see him on the sidelines to believe that’s happening. I can’t see my man going into any home visits or doing cocktail hours.” It could be Kingsbury receives another interview with the Bears, though he might not like how the since-fired Matt Eberflus rejected him for the since-fired Shane Waldron.
He’ll recruit kids because the NFL was about to reject him for a second straight offseason. Imagine having the gumption to win championships in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016 and 2018 — and being railroaded by McCaskey, Warren and Poles when they shouldn’t have their positions. Or as ESPN reporter Seth Wickersham wrote in a story that said Belichick was “sickened by the politics of the NFL,” was he “really going to abide by the philosophies” of Poles if the Bears had hired him? Belichick is 72. Poles is 39 and might not be long for the role if Warren turns on him.
It was curious to hear Caleb Williams defend Poles when Chicago loathes him, when fans don’t trust him in the lead role of hiring another coach. The quarterback never has swallowed rampant losing and speaks to Poles and other leaders. “I ask them questions, because the more knowledge that I have prepares me for the future, if this ever comes close to something like this again,” he said. “Seasons like this happen every once in a while.” They happen more than they should.
He says Poles has done “a good job.” How? “The amount that he cares about us, the Chicago Bears and wanting to win is why my faith is in him and believing in him and making sure that we get it right,” Williams said. “There’s belief — hope and faith — that we’re going to get this right and however it may happen, that’s how it’s going to happen. That’s kind of where I’m at with it. They drafted me here to win games. If we’re down, find a way to come back. If we’re up, find a way to stay up and win games. Haven’t been able to do that so far. The guys are frustrated about it, as am I. But for management and the president and GM and all these people that are worried about predicting the future the right way and getting the right people here and coaches and all of that, that’s their job. And my job is to go out there and handle the football the right way.”
A general manager doesn’t run when Belichick criticizes him on McAfee’s program. But that is one reason why his 333 NFL victories are left in a book, why he considers it a life experience to take a job on a lesser level. “Had some good years in the NFL, so that was OK, but this is a dream come true. I grew up in college football with my dad. As a kid, all I knew was college football,” Belichick said. “It's great to come back home to Carolina and back into the environment that I really grew up in. When you're little, you don't remember everything. I was too young to remember a lot of things at Carolina, but as I grew up, you hear the same story over and over and over again. One story I always heard was, ‘Billy's first words were, “Beat Duke.’ ’’
A chance will happen at home in October. “Tom Brady was a fourth-string quarterback his rookie year. (Rob) Gronkowski didn't do too much his rookie year. (Julian) Edelman played QB in college,” he said. “Developing players is something we believe strongly in.
“It beats working. My dad told us, ‘When you love what you do, it's not work.’ I love what I do. I love coaching. I love the interaction with the players. I love building a team, game-planning, the game itself. Working with young kids, with the energy, enthusiasm — it's great every day to come to that environment. I didn’t come here to leave. I feel like doing it a long time. I’m good to go.”
His preference would be in Chicago, where he ridiculed Poles for not developing an offensive line, then asked if Williams will freeze the night after Christmas while throwing 50 times a game. Seems the Bears have made more wobbly history.
They helped ship Bill Belichick to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.
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