Have you heard the Sir Alex Ferguson conspiracy?
The theory goes that he personally selected David Moyes as his successor to ensure Manchester United would never reach the heights they achieved under his reign, even with a world-class manager like José Mourinho waiting in the wings, ready to leave Real Madrid for Old Trafford.
It’s nonsense, but since Ferguson retired United have largely lived in his shadow, stumbling through managers while the legacy of his era has only grown.
Why is this relevant to the NFL?
Because Super Bowl LX felt like New England’s Ferguson postscript moment.
The Seattle Seahawks beat the Patriots 29–13 at Levi’s Stadium, smothering them with the league’s best defence and never really letting the game breathe.
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Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III ran wild (112 yards, 2 TDs), while New England’s offence managed just 243 total yards – a far cry from the dynasty days.
It was the Patriots’ first Super Bowl appearance of the post‑Bill Belichick era, a season where simply getting to Santa Clara had already exceeded expectations.
Mike Vrabel, hired after the Jerod Mayo disaster which ended the season with a 4-13 record and his firing after one year amid fan chants, led a stunning turnaround: 14-3 regular season, first AFC East title since 2019, and a 10-game win streak to start his tenure.
Even in defeat, it did not feel like the ceiling of what this group can be under Vrabel – but it was a missed chance for him to become the first person to win a Super Bowl with the same franchise as a player—having already won three with New England in his playing days—and as a head coach, and to start chiselling out a legacy of his own.
One man’s lost opportunity, though, is another man’s quiet win, not for Mike Macdonald and his Seahawks, but for Bill Belichick.
When you think of the Patriots in Super Bowls, you think of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Together, they defined two decades of dominance; six Lombardis and a standard so high that anything less than a title felt like failure.
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Belichick’s defences were the backbone. From the 2001 juggernaut (No. 1 in points allowed) to the 2018 masterpiece that held the high-octane Rams to three points in Super Bowl LIII.
Belichick’s units ranked top-10 in points allowed 16 times over 24 years – a blueprint even post-Brady teams tried (and mostly failed) to replicate, despite having the likes of Matthew Judon and 2019 Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore around.
Only when Brady left for Tampa Bay and won a seventh ring did the questions really start to mount about how much of New England’s success belonged to the quarterback, and how much to the head coach.
In the week leading up to Super Bowl LX, that debate roared back into view.
Belichick, now at North Carolina, was at the centre of headlines not for a game plan, but because he failed to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first attempt – a snub so jarring that the Hall is already expected to tweak its voting procedure.
In turn, the snub sent people into uproar, because it forced everyone to say out loud what had almost become assumed.
Six Super Bowl titles as a head coach, two before the six as Bill Parcells’ defensive coordinator with the New York Giants (beating the Buffalo Bills twice), and a resume that makes him the greatest coach the sport has seen.
Maybe Belichick was quietly rooting for his old team on Sunday night, or maybe, like Tom Brady, he watched on the fence.
The temptation, though, is to imagine him almost indifferent to the result.
A Patriots loss reinforces just how impossibly hard it is to win even one Super Bowl, never mind six, especially against the same Seahawks franchise he beat in Super Bowl XLIX with Malcolm Butler’s famous goal‑line interception; a call still debated 11 years later.
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It also offers a hint of petty satisfaction, given how brutally his reign ended in Foxborough. Owner Robert Kraft’s decision to part ways after a 4-13 season in 2023 felt abrupt for a man who’d won 70% of his games.
The further New England gets from the Belichick era, the more every near‑miss and every blown‑out Super Bowl run looks less like an indictment of him and more like evidence of just how rare his dominance truly was.
While the Patriots’ trajectory looks positive under Vrabel after the Mayo mess, think bloodied headbutts from celebrating players and a defence that allowed just 26 postseason points.
The nostalgia for those six Super Bowl triumphs will always ensure Bill Belichick stays front and centre in fans’ minds.
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He’s the one who brought sustained success to New England, transforming a middling franchise into a dynasty with innovations like the “do your job” ethos and adaptive schemes that influenced coaches league-wide.
He moulded them into one of, if not the most recognisable NFL brands, built on his relentless standards and defensive blueprint.
Super Bowl LX’s lopsided loss only reinforces that point. Vrabel’s squad echoed Belichick’s grit (top-3 in points allowed), but faltered when it mattered most.
A tough defeat for Vrabel and co, but another quiet win for the Belichick legacy… until they hoist another Lombardi without his fingerprints all over it.
For now, the Navy Hoodie’s shadow looms larger than ever.
Akram Miah
Akram is a British-Bangladeshi sports journalist based in London, with a passion for Football and American football, specialising in Basketball. His interests span from the dynamics of the games to the individuals who shape them. He currently contributes to offGrid NFL.
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