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How Bill Belichick struggles compare to other Hall of Fame coaches in their final years

Ayrton Ostly, USA TODAY
·6 min read
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The New England Patriots are 2-8 for just the second time in coach Bill Belichick's 23-year reign as head coach. The team's on a three-game losing skid in which they've been outscored 40-61, the latest a 10-6 loss to the Colts in Germany.

It's a far departure from the norm in Foxborough. Belichick's put together one of the greatest coaching careers in NFL history. Six Super Bowl wins in nine appearances and the third-most wins in NFL history. Whenever he retires, he'll be a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, likely on the first ballot.

But the Patriots are struggling this year with the second-worst offense and 23rd-ranked defense by scoring in 2023. This feels like rock bottom for the Patriots for the first time in decades.

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Belichick is the longest-tenured coach in the league and the second-oldest behind Pete Carroll. When Belichick started his tenure with the Patriots, four current NFL coaches were still playing in the league: Mike Vrabel (Tennessee Titans), Dan Campbell (Detroit Lions), Doug Pederson (Jacksonville Jaguars), and Antonio Pierce (Las Vegas Raiders). Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans was drafted six years after Belichick took over in New England.

The 2023 season comes after the worst three-run stretch of New England Patriots football since 2000-02. With this drop in form, Belichick could be nearing the end of a legendary coaching career.

How does this drop-off compare to other legends like Don Shula, Chuck Noll, Bill Parcells, or Tom Landry? Here's how those Hall of Fame coaches fared in their final years on the sidelines:

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Don Shula

Shula's coaching career spanned 33 years over four decades. He won back-to-back titles in 1972 and 1973 with the Miami Dolphins, including the only perfect season in NFL history in 1972. He holds the record for most regular season wins in NFL history at 328, 28 ahead of Belichick as of Week 10 of the 2023 season.

Despite more than 500 total games coached, Shula's teams rarely had bad seasons. Only twice in 33 years did Shula finish the regular season with a losing record: 6-10 in 1988 and 6-8 in 1976. Every other season was 8-8 or better.

The final three years of Shula's coaching career from 1993-95 saw the Dolphins go 28-20 with one playoff win. His last career win came in Week 17 against the Los Angeles Rams to clinch a playoff spot.

Shula can't match Belichick's Super Bowl victories or playoff wins but he never had a stretch like Belichick's had over the last three seasons.

Tom Landry

Landry became the Dallas Cowboys' first head coach in 1960 and he spent 29 seasons on the sideline in his iconic felt fedora. It took him seven seasons to coach the Cowboys from a winless season to the playoffs. He won two Super Bowls in 1971 and 1977 and made it to three others (1970, 1975, and 1978).

Like Belichick, Landry had great success with a Hall of Fame quarterback. Roger Staubach made six Pro Bowls as the Cowboys' signal-caller in the 1970s. Landry also fathered the 4-3 defense still used by many teams today.

Tom Landry led the Dallas Cowboys to their first Super Bowl in the 1971 NFL season.
Tom Landry led the Dallas Cowboys to their first Super Bowl in the 1971 NFL season.

Landry's final three seasons, 1986-88, saw a sharp decline from him and the Cowboys. From 1965 to 1985, the Cowboys never had a losing season. But those final three years saw consecutive sub-0.500 seasons, culminating in a 3-13 year in 1988. That's a similar drop to what Belichick is facing this season.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones fired Landry on February 25, 1989, one day after Jones bought the franchise.

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Bill Parcells

Belichick worked with Parcells for nearly a decade with the New York Giants. Parcells named him defensive coordinator in 1985 and the two share a long-term friendship chronicled in the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "The Two Bills."

Parcells coached four teams — the Giants, Patriots, New York Jets, and Cowboys — over 19 seasons in the NFL. He won two titles with the Giants in 1986 and 1990 and made it to another in 1996 with the Patriots. His 172 career regular season wins puts him 12th all-time.

Parcells had five losing seasons over 19 years in the NFL but only one came towards the end of his time on the sideline. He went 6-10, 9-7, and 9-7 in 2004-06 to close out his career before retiring on January 22, 2007.

Bill Parcells won the first two Super Bowls in New York Giants history in 1986 (pictured) and 1990.
Bill Parcells won the first two Super Bowls in New York Giants history in 1986 (pictured) and 1990.

Chuck Noll

Noll signed on to be head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers starting in the 1969 season. Twenty-three seasons later, he retired as a four-time Super Bowl champion with titles in 1974, 1975, 1978, and 1979.

The Steelers started slow in his first three years, going 1-13, 5-9, and 6-8. But from 1972 to 1984, the Steelers enjoyed one of the best runs of success in the NFL. Noll implemented a system on defense that spurned the "Steel Curtain" defense, spearheaded by his first draft pick as coach: Hall of Fame defensive lineman Joe Greene.

Noll had seven years with losing records but only once in his last three seasons. He went 9-7, 9-7, and 7-9 from 1989-91 to close his career. A defensive mind like Belichick, Noll retired after the 1991 season.

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Will Bill Belichick retire after this season?

The Patriots are on pace for their worst season in 33 years. Belichick just benched quarterback Mac Jones in the loss to the Colts with little reason to expect things to improve.

“It’s really disappointing, and I had hoped that things would be a lot better, as I know our fan base did," Patriots owner Robert Kraft told the NFL Network before the loss. "This isn’t what we were expecting to happen this year.”

Coaches of Belichick's caliber rarely are fired. Landry's the exception when the team changed ownership, and Kraft doesn't seem likely to sell. With six Super Bowl wins, it'd be a shock if Kraft fired Belichick.

Belichick hasn't mentioned retiring at all this season. A lot can change in a few months but it seems more likely that wholesale changes on staff could be coming instead. Maybe a reunion with former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels could help patch things up on offense. It could also help a top draft pick enter the league, as he did with Jones in 2021. That all might be change enough after a rough year.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Bill Belichick compares to other Hall of Fame coaches near the end