Glendale, Arizona
BILL BELICHICK IS NOT a good loser. Not long after the end of Super Bowl XLII, Belichick sat next to his son in the front row of a large gray charter coach designated “Bus 1.” For ten minutes they did not speak. They both looked stunned. No one else on the front of the bus spoke either. Most sat silent and stared straight ahead.
Belichick, who is famous for the grubby, homeless-chic look he sports on the sidelines, had changed from the red, hooded sweatshirt he wore for the game. He was now wearing a gray suit, a white shirt, and a maroon tie that he fingered distractedly as he sat waiting. A call on his cell phone momentarily interrupted his stupor. Belichick spoke quickly – maybe a sentence or two – and then hung up. After several additional minutes of quiet, he got up, stepped off the bus, spoke to a young man in a suit, and returned to his seat, where he once again sat silent, this time with his arms folded across his chest. He was ready to leave. Losing makes a man impatient.
Forty-five minutes earlier, Belichick had raced across the field to shake hands with New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin. There was :01 second left on the clock and the Giants, having just gotten the ball back on downs, only had to snap the ball to win. He couldn’t wait to leave. He was already en route to the locker room when the game officially ended. Belichick wouldn’t have to watch the Giants celebrate.
The New England Patriots started the game 18-0 and ended it 18-1. They were not supposed to lose.
A Giants fan who wore a simple black t-shirt featuring only that record across the front — “18-1” — had been mocked by passing Patriots fans at halftime. Then with thirteen minutes left in regulation, a fresh-faced young woman walked up the stairs of the south end of the facility to the makeshift press station in Section 403 of the University of Phoenix stadium. The Patriots were leading 7-3 and, as Fox color commentator Troy Aikman noted, the game had the feel of a contest that was turning toward New England. They had won several close games as the regular season drew to a close and most of the reporters in the auxiliary press area assumed they would do it again. The young woman helpfully circulated a release from the Patriots public relations office.
If the Patriots win today, they would…
*Become the second team in the NFL’s 88-year history to achieve an undefeated an untied record throughout the regular season and playoffs, joining the 1972 Miami Dolphins (17-0).
*Set the all-time NFL record for most overall victories in a season (19), topping the 18 total wins by the 1984 San Francisco 49ers and the 1985 Chicago Bears.
*Win their 15th playoff game this decade, setting a new NFL record for most postseason victories in a single decade, topping the 14 playoff wins by the 1970s Dallas Cowboys and the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers.
*Become the second NFL team to win four Super Bowls in a seven-year span, joining the Pittsburgh Steelers, who won four in six seasons.
And on it went. There were additional notes about Patriots owner Bob Kraft (“second highest Super Bowl victory total among NFL owners,”) and Belichick (“tie the NFL record for most Super Bowl wins by a head coach,”) and Tom Brady (“tie the NFL record for most Super Bowl wins as a starting quarterback.”) In the days before the game, the Patriots patented “19-0.”
None of that happened, of course. Down by 14-10 with 2:42 remaining, the Giants methodically moved down the field. With 1:15 remaining, on a critical third-and-five from the Giants 44 yard-line, Eli Manning somehow escaped the grasp of several Patriots defensive lineman and threw downfield to David Tyree at the Patriots 24 yard-line. Tyree outjumped Pro Bowl safety Rodney Harrison, wedged the ball between his hands and his helmet, and somehow came down with the catch.
Reporters in the press area watched the replays on small monitors affixed to the row of seats in front of them. One guy from something called “the SportsTicker” stood up, turned around, smiled and yelled in disbelief. “What? Are you kidding me?” Four plays later, Plaxico Burress scored and the game was effectively over.
But it was David Tyree’s catch that had everyone in the stadium talking after the game. Over the past six weeks, Tyree had experienced a near-univeral emotional low and a high that few will ever know. Until Sunday, Tyree was most often described in the New York papers as “a special teams standout.” In the Super Bowl, he was Eli Manning’s most important target, having not only made the crucial third down catch that gave the Giants an opportunity to score on that last drive, but also having scored a touchdown earlier in the quarter to put the Giants ahead. Just before Christmas, he missed a crucial game on December 16 against the Washington Redskins because his mother died.
Moments after he watched his son accept the Vince Lombardi Trophy as Super Bowl Champions and the individual honor of Super Bowl MVP, Archie Manning took a back elevator from a luxury suite to the locker room with his wife and eldest son, Cooper. The former NFL standout told his wife that he saw divine intervention in Tyree’s remarkable reception. “I think his mother was looking out for him today,” Manning said. She nodded her head in agreement.
Officially, the Giants 17-14 win over the Patriots was probably the second greatest upset in Super Bowl history. In the first, the New York Jets victory over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, Joe Namath made good on his guarantee of a win, despite being more than a two-touchdown underdog. Still, the Colts had lost a game that year and, as their press release tells us, the Patriots had not. Regardless, this is one of the worst losses in NFL history.
“Coach Belichick is extremely disappointed,” Tom Brady told a throng of media after the game. When Brady finished with his postgame press conference, he slipped out of the tent and ran into Sal Paolontonio from ESPN, who wanted to tape a quick interview with Brady. The Patriots quarterback, unaccustomed to losing, politely declined and strode away in search of the team buses. He started out the wrong way, declined numerous requests for interviews and eventually found his teammates.
Belichick was still waiting on Bus 1. And after leaving the field early to avoid getting caught up in the Giants postgame revelry, his view out of the front window of the bus was a bit ironic. The charter coaches for both teams were parked side-by-side just outside of the stadium. Many of the Giants, dressed in suits and sporting baseball hats recognizing them as “World Champions,” hugged one another and held mini-celebrations in full view of Belichick. Jeff Feagles, the Giants’ 41 year-old punter and a Phoenix native, videotaped his family as they took turns recounting the win. Trent Dilfer, backup quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and a friend of Feagles from their days in Seattle, took over the filming so that Feagles, the oldest player ever to participate in a Super Bowl, could join in the merriment.
As Bill Belichick gazed out of the front window of Bus 1, two of Feagles’ young sons danced and wrestled with one another, wearing the oversized t-shirts printed for the Super Bowl Champions. “I’m gonna kick your butt,” went the sing-song taunt from the older brother to his younger sibling. “I’m gonna kick your butt.”
Belichick sat expressionless, but fidgeted in his seat. He was ready to leave. Losing makes a man impatient.
Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer at THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
