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Bill Belichick Still Has More Super Bowl Rings Than Tom Brady

Brian Giuffra
Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. / Adam Glanzman/Getty Images

The most insufferable conversation during the 2020 NFL season and playoffs was who would win the breakup between Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, as if this was Love Island and the two former partners were quarantined in a house together trying to prove to America their new relationship was stronger than their ex's.

As unbearable as 17 weeks of that blather was during the regular season, the dial turned up considerably after Tom Brady won his seventh Super Bowl while Belichick couldn't even get his team into the playoffs. That, according to several prominent talking heads and writers alike, was definitive proof that Brady won the breakup over Belichick.

Kellerman, who said Brady was going to fall off a cliff five years ago, essentially said in this segment he always assumed the Patriots success was more a product of Belichick than Brady, but Brady's win in Super Bowl LV, "raises questions about Belichick."

I'm sorry, but are we both talking about the same Bill Belichick? The guy who has eight Super Bowls as a coach to Brady's seven as a player? We're saying a man with more Super Bowls than Brady, with more Super Bowls than any other head coach in NFL history, needs to win even more to prove he's a great coach? Stop it.

The reality is Brady isn't Brady without Belichick and vice versa. Brady was a critical component in all six Super Bowls wins with the Patriots and one with the Bucs. Belichick was a critical component in all six Super Bowl wins with the Patriots and two with the Giants as the defensive coordinator. You know who else was critical? All the other players and coaches and executives who likewise played a role in those wins. But that's another story unto itself.

The point is every conversation involving Brady and Belichick doesn't have to be a frivolous argument based on pure conjecture about who was more important to the Patriots dynasty. They both were.

If you want to talk about facts, Belichick has more rings than Brady. That's a fact. But even if he didn't, even if Brady won two more Super Bowls, it wouldn't say anything about Belichick as a coach. Just as if Belichick won another Super Bowl as a coach, it wouldn't say anything about Brady as a player. Brady is the most successful quarterback in NFL history. Belichick is the most successful coach in NFL history. That won't change no matter what Brady accomplishes the rest of his career and vice versa.