Commanders Spoke With Bill Belichick Regarding HC Job
Nate Bouda
February 1, 2024
Dianna Russini of the Athletic reports that the Commanders did, in fact, speak with former Patriots HC Bill Belichick about their head-coaching job.
According to Russini, there were some decision-makers within the team who supported the hiring of Belichick. However, the Commanders ultimately settled on Dan Quinn as their target.
Earlier on in the cycle, there was some reporting and speculation that Washington could be a landing spot for Belichick. Although that buzz died down fairly quickly.
Belichick was a finalist for the Falcons’ job, but reports later explained that many within the organization were worried about the widespread changes that would likely come with hiring Belichick and the team eventually decided to hire Raheem Morris.
All of the available head-coaching jobs have filled, so it looks like Belichick will wait a year before resurfacing as a top coaching candidate in 2025.
Belichick, 71, got his start coaching in the NFL in 1975 with the then-Baltimore Colts. He had assistant jobs with the Lions and Broncos before landing with the Giants, where he eventually rose to defensive coordinator under legendary HC Bill Parcells.
The Browns hired Belichick as head coach in 1991 and he was in the post for five years before being fired. He rejoined Parcells as an assistant with the Patriots and left to go with him to the Jets the following year.
He was slated to replace Parcells as head coach of the Jets in 2000 but infamously resigned and was hired by the Patriots, who had to give up a first-round pick to the Jets as compensation. Belichick has been in New England ever since, winning six Super Bowls in 24 years.
For his career, Belichick has a record of 302-163 over 29 seasons (.655 W/L percentage) and has eight Super Bowl rings, six of them as head coach of the Patriots. He’s a three-time winner of the AP Coach of the Year award.
Originally Posted by seamonster:
EB had a first year QB dropping back forty times a game behind a patchwork offensive line. He wouldn't alter his philosophy or change his style. The QB came into the year pushing the ball down the field and making tight-window throws.
Pretty much this. EB had the offense running around 70% passing vs. 30% running (give or take a few percentage points game to game), and never made any adjustments with that ratio to help out his rookie QB. So in spite of the fact that they were better in certain aspects, he kept exposing Howell to pass rushes and all the pressure to perform was on Howell, instead of trying to take some of the pressure off with his running game or a more comprehensive quick/short passing attack.
Tbf though, the WAS defense often gave up so many points so early in games that EB was often facing double digit deficits in every 2nd half, which kind of limited how much EB could call run plays.
But he could've called more runs to begin games, and maybe protect his defense a little more as well.
Maybe EB will learn how to adjust and be more flexible from this experience. Maybe he won't. We'll see. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Wisconsin_Chief:
Man, it's great being a Chief fan.
Any chance EB comes back next year?
Honestly I think the Chiefs miss EB...The one bright spot for Washington was the redzone efficiency. Skins were top five. If EB got a short field to work with Washington was getting a touchdown. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RunKC:
The best candidates were Slowik and Johnson and they wanted to stay where they were.
What else are they supposed to do? Everything just dried up on them. I really think they wanted Ben Johnson and it fell through.
Then I would have punted on the season.
Hire Jim Caldwell. Or some other dusty warhorse who won’t ruin your new QB. If it goes great, you transition and promote from within the staff. If it doesn’t, you start fresh with the best offensive coach you can get [Reply]
Originally Posted by RunKC:
The best candidates were Slowik and Johnson and they wanted to stay where they were.
What else are they supposed to do? Everything just dried up on them. I really think they wanted Ben Johnson and it fell through.
Have a hard time buying that one of them couldn't be talked into it with a big enough offer. Even if that's the case, you take a chance on somebody, ANYBODY else that has an offensive background. There are plenty of young offensive coordinators out there.
Dan Quinn is just settling for mediocrity. Might as well have kept Ron. [Reply]
Originally Posted by seamonster:
Honestly I think the Chiefs miss EB...The one bright spot for Washington was the redzone efficiency. Skins were top five. If EB got a short field to work with Washington was getting a touchdown.
I'm wondering if he'll get another shot as an OC. If he doesn't, I sure hope we bring him back in some capacity. [Reply]
Originally Posted by tredadda:
Washington’s President as well as their GM are black. And still they didn’t want EB. Not sure how the race card could be pulled here.
Oh, you clearly haven't been paying attention. [Reply]