Let me start off by saying that if Sunday isn’t Bill Belichick’s final game in New England, I’ll be copying and pasting this when the day finally comes anyway, so you might as well just read it now.

A few different things hit me listening to what could be Belichick’s final bit of Friday media availability.

First of all, rooting for him and Tom Brady as a fan is the easiest thing I’ve ever done for any New England sports franchise. From the time I was in eighth grade to the time I first got a press pass in 2021, there was a guarantee that there was going to be meaningful football in December and January. Ultimately, that’s all you really need in my opinion if you’re a fan. The occasional Super Bowl run is nice, but we’re now really seeing how other teams have lived for almost 30 seasons. The fact he had the franchise with a permanent seat in the AFC Divisional round for so long, just two wins away from playing in the Super Bowl on a regular basis is something no one should ever forget. Even if it has been a mess for the last few years after Brady. For the most part, the regular season was easy to watch every single season, the train kept rolling. Looking back on it, the consistency level made being a fan of this team for the last two decades infinitely less maddening than rooting for the Sox, B’s or C’s.

Sure, the way things ended with Brady, the Malcolm Butler decision, Spygate, Deflategate and even Spygate 2 in Cincinnati make it hard to defend them (Bill) when in those classic bar or dorm room arguments with fans from other states that would immediately pull the ‘cheater’ card, but that was all worth it to know that you knew what you’d be doing with friends on a Saturday night or Sunday afternoon in January because the program was just so damn good.

I always assumed covering him would be terrifying, not because he’s this monster or mythical figure, but if you grew up a Patriots fan, he’s like your old uncle or grandfather you wouldn’t want to disappoint. In my case, it would be a dumb question or something like that once I finally got my opportunity after a 15-year grind covering driving thousands of miles for high school and college games every night.

The welcoming environment that the PR team and Patriots beat as a whole provides immediately took most of my initial worries away, but there’s still just a little bit of me that has that ‘oh shit, it’s Bill,’ thing that I get when he walks to the podium. Not in fear, but in a little bit of awe. We’re all still fans at heart, right?

The first interaction I had with him in training camp in 2021 was a bit surreal and just my luck.

Heading down to use a restroom before the players ended practice and walked over to do press conferences, I thought I’d timed it perfectly so I’d get back up the stairs before they were going down to the locker room. As I turned the corner to head back up, Bill was at the bottom of the stairs and I immediately locked eyes with him, thinking he was going to be absolutely pissed a no-name reporter was that close to the team coming off the field. Instead, I simply did the standard head nod to indicate a ‘how ya doin’ and got a ‘hey, how ya doin’ back as he twirled his whistle. It wasn’t much at all, but for someone brand new to the beat, it gave me a ton more confidence that I belonged there.

Since then, I’ve always kept my questions for him related to lacrosse, Holy Cross football, his 1978 season with the Broncos or hitting a milestone in his prestigious coaching career. Every single time, he’s been engaging and answered everything thoughtfully. Having said that, it’s also easy to understand why his image is what it is nationally, because if he really doesn’t want to give the other men and women in the media workroom anything, he REALLY won’t.

I’ve always believed time is the most important thing we have, so I haven’t stayed away from football questions for fear of a asking a dumb question anymore, but rather because of how diligent and on top of things the other reporters are with him. It’s a true lesson in professionalism watching the people that cover this team do their thing.

Mike Reiss, Phil Perry, Tom Curran, Karen Kuregian, Chris Price, Doug Kyed, Andrew Callahan, Andy Hart, Mike Giardi and a plethora of others that I’ve gotten to watch and learn from will go at Bill with everything they can and often not get much in return because that’s just how he is. He’s 72 and been doing weekly, monotonous press conferences here for 25 years. But, anyone who says beat reporters don’t ask tough questions has never sat through the awkward minute or two of silence that exists after a contentious moment following a question about something going on with the team.

I tried to pick Adam Kurkjian’s brain heading into my first year and continue to do so getting ready to close out year three since he was on the beat during some Super Bowl runs, but it’s honestly been an experience he and no one else could have prepared me for. Bill Belichick is both the exact same and completely different than I thought he would be as a fan in high school, college and into my 30’s.

Obviously, the names I mentioned above and other writers can give a far better assessment of what it’s been like covering Belichick all these years and they all probably have way better stories than the handful I have, but if Sunday is the end, I at least wanted to get my experience on record as someone who has defended him both as a fan and now as a journalist.

I do believe that a change is needed and that Sunday will be the final time we see Belichick on the sideline in Foxborough. The fan in me wouldn’t hate him coming back as a head coach and giving up GM power, the writer in me believes that won’t happen and that at some point, the end has to come. The story of the dynasty has been written, the newest chapter can’t begin until there’s a new face and voice at the helm.

It’s been nerve-wracking, a pleasure, easy, hard, and everything I thought it would be rooting for and then covering the greatest coach in NFL history.