BELICHICK AND HIS GIRLFRIEND, 24, ARE BETTER FOR “HARD KNOCKS” THAN THE NFL
If league franchises want no part of the HBO show — after the Bears and Giants became the latest to miss the postseason — why did NFL owners ban Belichick when he proposed a North Carolina docuseries?
Maybe your starting quarterback suffers a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Otherwise, nothing is more deadly to an NFL franchise than “Hard Knocks.” The 2024 Chicago Bears stumbled so mercilessly after performing on the program, forget about chairman George McCaskey ever approving it again. Same goes for the New York Giants, who were profiled last offseason and exposed how they lost Saquon Barkley to Philadelphia.
“We’re out,” general manager Joe Schoen said.
“They kind of gave the truth,” said Barkley, a champion who just received a two-year, $41.2 million extension from the Eagles.
The Bears and Giants became the 15th and 16th teams on “Hard Knocks” that missed the playoffs. Only eight have made the playoffs, at 33 percent. And just three have won a postseason game. No team has reached the Super Bowl, including four AFC North teams profiled in a January package.
So, between bad looks and revealing footage and odd scenes such as Matt Eberflus at his fancy home, most teams want no part of cameras invading their business. HBO could not have chosen situations that turned into uglier wreckage, including the Bears firing Eberflus and the Giants finishing 3-14 while dumping quarterback Daniel Jones. Will every team choose to boycott producers in the future?
Bill Belichick didn’t.
Once a gnarly media figure who blurted a lot of nothings, he is bubbly about life these days, from his new coaching gig at North Carolina to his 24-year-old girlfriend. He used a partner, NFL Films vice president Ken Rodgers, to make a case for Chapel Bill in his first season with the Tar Heels. Forget the league. Profile Belichick and his culture with kids.
That will not happen. After his firing in New England, which came after six Super Bowl championships, Belichick has angered certain NFL owners. One would be his former boss, Robert Kraft, who chairs the league’s media committee. Belichick was in pain when “Hard Knocks” was mentioned as he ran the Patriots. There is no chance he would replace any of the 32 teams with a collegiate docuseries.
The decision came only hours after Michael Lombardi, general manager of the North Carolina program, said a deal looked imminent. “There’s a lot of conversations going on right now about that,” he told Pat McAfee. “We’ve had a lot of offers from people all over to come in and look at our program and do the behind-the-scenes things. I don’t think anything’s been official or signed to make it happen. That would be the university. When you’re dealing with the brand we have at North Carolina, you’ve gotta make sure things are done right and Ts are crossed. Bill’s been talking to people and sorting it out.”
Instead, the NFL sorted him out.
The show would have been fascinating, including Belichick’s appearances around town with Jordon Hudson, who is young enough to appear as a UNC cheerleader. He happens to be the greatest NFL coach of all time. Why the hell not? Last weekend, “Saturday Night Live” had fun with the couple. “A U.S. appeals court blocked a Biden-era student debt relief plan, which means the only way for young people to pay off their student loans is by dating Bill Belichick,” Michael Che said on Weekend Update.
Instead, we have a choice of the Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons and Tennessee Titans. Will Bryce Young find his footing in Charlotte? Is Mike Macdonald only 37 in Seattle? Brian Callahan might not last the season in Nashville. Michael Penix’s first season at quarterback could be interesting.
But none of them will win the Super Bowl. None of them likely will make the playoffs. Some of the coaches might be booted like Eberflus.
Seems Chapel Bill is bigger than the league he departed.
Show him and Jordon at a frat party. What happens if he falls asleep?
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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.