The football world looks very different today. Bill Belichick, one of the NFL’s winningest coaches of all time and as permanent a fixture on the New England Patriots as most any coach ever has been for a given team, is moving on after 24 illustrious seasons leading the team. Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft mutually agreed to part ways after a lackluster 4-13 season, which itself came after a few seasons of post-Tom Brady diminishing returns.
While Patriots fans say goodbye to a legend, it’s clear the coach plans to find a new landing spot elsewhere in the league. Still, it’s the end of an era, so we thought it would be a good time to look back on Belichick’s storied career through the lens of the Madden series. Faithful players of the series know all too well that, because Belichick isn’t a member of the coaches union, his likeness is not in the video game series. This has resulted in the team at EA Tiburon coming up with a series of humorous replacements for the legendary coach.
His absence is a point of conversation for new Madden players every season. “Where’s Belichick?” some ask. “Who’s this Chad Masters guy?” others might say depending on the year. And if you’re curious why Belichick isn’t in the coaches union, you’ll have to settle for guesswork, as he’s (characteristically) never expressed publicly why this is the case. Though as you’ll see below, it seems he once was a card-carrying member, if only briefly.
Belichick has worn many faces in Madden, but rarely his own. Let’s look back on all the Not-Bill Belichicks there have been in Madden over the last quarter-century.
