The New York Jets have had 22 head coaches in their franchise history. Twenty of them completed their tenures with the team without a winning record. The man who succeeded Bill Parcells in 2020, Al Groh, had a 9-7 won/loss record. Parcells is the only other coach to earn a winning mark while mentoring the team that on the television series Curb Your Enthusiasm was responsible for a man’s suicide.

In his three years running the Jets, Parcells compiled a 30-20 mark and guided the franchise to the American Football Conference Championship Game in 1998.

In 1997, the Chicago Bears were a last place team. They won only four games that year and hosted the Jets on November 16. I had the Bears that day plus the three points and lost while the Jets took the road triumph, 23-15. As the final seconds ticked off in the Jets victory Parcells let out a cheer and raised his hands with a celebration more indicative of a team winning a Super Bowl than simply beating an overmatched opponent on the road.

I have long respected Parcells, he is on a pedestal with my appreciation as a coach for both his football knowledge and handling of his players' individual needs. He is also someone who I noticed in interviews understood my business. Parcells revealed with the media that he was aware of circumstances that could affect his team’s performance outside of his control. Where John Madden would discard things he couldn’t control with disdain, Parcells had respect for those factors.

I smiled even after losing that game in 1997 because there was Parcells acknowledging what a tough motivational spot his team was in and overcame. He knew that beating the Bears at Soldier Field that day was a tall order no matter how the media was viewing the game while promoting a superior Jets squad meeting a last place Bears unit.

Motivation is the key to winning in the National Football League, particularly against the point spread. The points given to an underdog mostly covers the talent gap between the competing squads. But the submarine of factors, those not viewed by most people wagering on the game, are immensely important in driving the final result.

Any NFL team in the right spot can beat any opponent. What I take note of is when a team wins in a bad spot, like Parcells knew his Jets did that day in Chicago.

This season, the New England Patriots lost at home on opening day to the Las Vegas Raiders. Had we known then just how bad the Raiders were, they ended the season with the worst record in the league, fired head coach Pete Carroll and were awarded the first pick in this year’s NFL draft, we would have assumed the Patriots were headed into a tough year with first-year head coach Mike Vrabel. After all, they were a last place team in 2024 and lost at home on opening day to the worst team in the league.

We would have been wrong with that assumption by a huge measure.

The Patriots not only bounced off that opening day loss to win 14 of their next sixteen regular season games they swept their three postseason contests to land in Super Bowl LX.

They did it while winning in spots that challenged their talent just like the Jets were against the Bears in 1997. Winning in spots that from a motivational and situational perspective should have doomed their effort.

They opened the playoffs against an experienced postseason Los Angeles Chargers team with a quarterback, Justin Herbert, who was looking for his first playoff win in his third attempt. The Patriots making their first postseason appearance since a loss, 47-17, to the Buffalo Bills four years ago in their only playoff game since the departure of Tom Brady.

The Patriots were favored against the Chargers, by 3½ points, and the work I did indicated an edge for Jim Harbaugh’s road team with the spread.

Didn’t happen, the Patriots won and covered, 16-3.

Against the Houston Texans the following week, it was once again the Patriots making the big plays that had Vrabel’s team cover a favorite role against a superior defense, 28-16.

Then it was off to Denver to meet a homesteading top seed Broncos squad that had a huge motivational boost with needing to compensate for the loss of their starting quarterback. This time, the 3½ point spread caught New England on the road. But the Patriots straight-up victory, 10-7, was another demonstration that this is the kind of team that can overcome any obstacle and land in the winner's circle.

In the Super Bowl, they meet a more talented Seattle Seahawks squad that features the best defense in football. Seattle is also led by quarterback Sam Darnold, an experienced field general who has enjoyed back-to-back seasons that rank among the best in NFL history … only the second quarterback in history to win 28 games over two consecutive campaigns.

The Seahawks are favored for good reason, but the Patriots have shown since their opening loss to the Raiders, that they can beat anyone in any situation.