The San Francisco 49ers visit Foxboro on Sunday afternoon to do battle against Bill Belichick and his New England Patriots. These two teams are vastly different than the squads that would have met last season.
The change for New England is obvious, the best quarterback to ever play the game is now working in the backfield for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As for the 49ers, last year they were riding high and on the way to Super Bowl LIV.
It is worth noting that all of Belichick’s Hall of Fame credentials as a head coach were established while Tom Brady was running his offense.
Might Belichick be subject to the same decline that Mike Shanahan suffered when he no longer had John Elway as his triggerman in Denver? With Elway, the Broncos head coach won back-to-back Super Bowls. Without him, he coached 14 more seasons, ten in Denver and four with the Washington Redskins, and only had a single postseason win to show for his efforts.
But, come on, this is Belichick.
Is he really that reliant on Brady for success?