Whenever the topic of “The Chicken or the Egg” comes up, it’s safe to say that if you really get into it, you can spin your wheels for literally hours trying to make cases for both sides.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, you’re still dealing with an unknown.\u00a0 You can argue both ways until you’re blue in the face, but you’re still stuck accepting that it could go either way and you’ll never really know the true answer.<\/p>\n
Here in New England, a similar topic has more or less reached the same result.\u00a0 Given the divorce of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick last offseason, a similar discussion started.\u00a0 Of course, it’s a similar circular subject that is just impossible to answer.<\/p>\n
Tom Brady winning a Lombardi trophy two weeks ago started the, “Who was more important to New England’s success?” argument.\u00a0 On the surface, the answer seems easy enough, especially with Brady adding yet another championship to his Hall of Fame resume.\u00a0 The veteran QB winning a title would make you believe it was Brady who was more important.<\/p>\n
But, at the same time, you have to look at the big picture.\u00a0 Anyone who followed the postseason is probably aware of the multitude of bad coaching decisions and quarterbacks who couldn’t make big plays when it mattered most, which cost quite a few teams a trip to Tampa.<\/p>\n
There were untimely turnovers.\u00a0 There was bad clock management.\u00a0 There were players who couldn’t make the necessary throws in key moments.\u00a0 All of those factors become magnified in January when, unlike during the regular season, the margin for error is so much smaller.<\/p>\n
Here in New England, that used to not be a problem we ever had to deal with.\u00a0 We didn’t worry about Brady turning the ball over with the game on the line.\u00a0 We didn’t worry about Belichick mismanaging the clock down the stretch.\u00a0 The two together were a perfect pair and when you’ve got two guys who are that good, that’s how you dominate the NFL for as long as they did.<\/p>\n
Granted, you can have a great QB and a decent coach and win.\u00a0 Just like you can have a great coach and a decent QB and win.\u00a0 It’s happened quite a bit over the years.\u00a0 You can go back and look at all the other NFL teams who have won and none of the coach\/QB tandems are anywhere close to the level of who Belichick and Brady were together.<\/p>\n
The end result?\u00a0 It’s typically a different set of names each year and very rarely do they ever come close to getting back on top of the toughest mountain to climb in the NFL.<\/p>\n
That’s essentially what makes it so special.\u00a0 These guys dominated a league for two decades.\u00a0 That’s unprecedented and it’s historic.\u00a0 You’ll never see it again in your lifetime.\u00a0 Your kids probably won’t either.\u00a0 Neither will their kids.<\/p>\n
And let’s be honest.\u00a0 When it comes to a quarterback changing teams and winning a championship, that’s much easier to do than for a Hall of Fame coach to rebuild a franchise back into a contender.\u00a0 It takes a little bit of trial and error and it also takes time and a little bit of luck.\u00a0 So it’s not exactly a fair comparison.\u00a0 Either way, the 2020 postseason should have been a big reminder how important both coaches and quarterbacks are when it comes to winning, and it generally takes two pretty good ones to become a champion.<\/p>\n