The Patriots’ Way produced three Super Bowl titles in six seasons under the brain trust of coach Bill Belichick and vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli. The Bears need one Super Bowl victory under Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo before their method gets its own catchy title.
Like so many teams trying to emulate the NFL’s most successful organization, the Bears have applied parts of New England’s philosophy to their own plan.
But there is only one Patriotic oath, if you will. Here are the 10 tenets, and how closely the Bears have adhered to them in building their own Super Bowl contender.
Draw a line at overpaying stars
I. The Patriot oath: Fiscal responsibility prevents the Patriots from entering many expensive sweepstakes for marquee free agents, including guard Steve Hutchinson and wide receiver Terrell Owens last winter. They have no interest in setting the market. Former Patriots such as kicker Adam Vinatieri and cornerback Ty Law, to name just two examples, can vouch for that. New England would prefer to develop lesser-known players they drafted and set aside money to pay them once their contracts get to the point where they need to be renegotiated.
Bear fact: The Bears have not had the luxury of Super Bowl success to allow them to sit back during free agency. That justified overpaying for free agents who filled gaping holes, such as wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad ($30 million) and cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. ($21 million).
Manage the salary cap
II. The Patriot oath: Few teams do it better and can withstand the inflation of winning. Belichick’s input and Pioli’s prowess are evident, for example, in front-loaded deals for defensive end Richard Seymour and center Dan Koppen that will help clear as much as $20 million in cap space next year. The Patriots got so good at manipulating the system that the collective-bargaining agreement now bans five-year contracts for second-round draft picks or lower in part because the Patriots had made that a standard practice as a means of spreading the cap burden out. They spend to the cap as well as any NFL team.
Bear fact: Bears “capologist” Cliff Stein is considered one of the best in the league and has helped the Bears spend shrewdly to fill a Super Bowl-worthy roster.
Follow the head, not the heart, on football decisions
III. The Patriot oath: Ask Drew Bledsoe about the sentimental side of Belichick and the Patriots. Or Vinatieri. Or Lawyer Milloy, Damien Woody or Law. How about Willie McGinest or David Givens? Deion Branch? For various reasons related to football or finances, the Patriots separated emotion from the equation when saying goodbye to the aforementioned players who had contributed to the modern dynasty. Not every head coach or team executive feels secure enough in their respective roles, or has the full support of ownership, to be as bold as the Patriots have been cutting ties.
Bear fact: It’s on a different scale, but how much do you think discarded Bears Bryan Johnson and Michael Haynes believe sentiment factors into decisions at Halas Hall? And remember that Smith opened training camp with first-round pick Cedric Benson at running back instead of popular starter Thomas Jones, who was coming off a 1,300-yard season and eventually won the job. Don’t let Smith’s Texas drawl fool y’all: He can separate feelings and football as much as the job of NFL head coach requires.
Keep the head coach low-key
IV. The Patriot oath: In the team-building New England model, if there has to be a star, it is the roster and not the head coach. Even Belichick’s Sunday wardrobe screams, “Look away!” Belichick holds a master’s degree in economics and, whether it is because of a condescending attitude or just a dull personality, he consistently acts like a man who resists–and maybe resents–the public aspect of being an NFL head coach. He is a workaholic who finds joy in the grind, not in talking about or examining it.
It has been a rough fall for Belichick personally. Last month his son, Stephen, was arrested for possession of marijuana and sentenced to six months’ probation. He also was accused by a New Jersey construction worker, in court documents filed as part of a divorce case, of having an affair with a former New York Giants receptionist. Through it all, Belichick has kept the focus where it always is in his world: the field.
Bear fact: Similarly, Smith speaks like he majored in coachspeak at Tulsa and is the anti-Ditka.
Find symmetry between GM and head coach
V. The Patriot oath: Before the 2005 Super Bowl, Pioli estimated he and Belichick had disagreed on three players in the previous five years. It helps that Belichick possesses the unique ability–and job security–to consider long-term implications of player decisions beyond the next Sunday. For example: Both men considered the trade of Branch to the Seahawks for next year’s first-round choice an ultimate triumph for the organization despite Branch’s obvious loss this season. The wide receiver was a second-round pick in 2002–and getting a second first-rounder for 2007 maximized the value of that selection. Belichick and Pioli are practically best friends who have worked together seven years. Only two NFL teams have had the same personnel boss and coach in place longer (the Titans and Ravens).
Bear fact: Smith and Angelo are on the same page more often than the crossword puzzle and the comics.
Build a depth chart more than a marquee
VI. The Patriot oath: In the Patriots lexicon, they believe in a strong middle class. That way, losing one or two “star” players does not change the course of a game or a season. It’s a philosophy of interchangeable parts that can be hard on players’ egos but even tougher on opponents. That’s why, for example, they never lowered expectations this season despite replacing former Super Bowl heroes Branch and Vinatieri with Chad Jackson and Stephen Gostkowski, respectively. In the draft the Patriots look for players to develop to increase their depth and turn second-day picks such as fourth-round cornerback Asante Samuel and fifth-round center Koppen into starters.
Bear fact: From spots one through 53 on the roster, few if any teams are any deeper than the Bears.
Believe in the right QB
VII. The Patriot oath: Of all the players and assistant coaches who have come and gone, the biggest constant, besides Belichick and Pioli, has been Tom Brady. Every championship run begins with the organization committing to a quarterback. The Patriots were 0-2 in 2001 when starting quarterback Bledsoe left a game after a ferocious hit from Jets linebacker Mo Lewis that sent Bledsoe to the hospital. Enter Brady, who had completed just one pass for 6 yards as a rookie in 2000. The rest is NFL history, and whatever Belichick and Pioli saw in the sixth-round pick manifested itself as Brady blossomed into the best big-game quarterback of the decade.
Bear fact: The Bears organization could not express its love to Rex Grossman any more without a ring ceremony.
Reward your own players
VIII. The Patriot oath: It’s all related. In asking the players to commit for longer and settle for slightly less than they might command in the open market, the Patriots reward them with winning consistency hard to find elsewhere. Identifying core players to lock up with long-term contracts makes it much easier to manage the salary cap and creates stability. Not to mention the intangible benefits the Patriots have gained in the locker room by signing contract extensions with players such as Seymour, Koppen, linebacker Mike Vrabel, running back Corey Dillon and offensive lineman Russ Hochstein before their deals were up. The top seven offensive linemen are under multiyear deals and five of the top defensive linemen are signed through 2008.
Bear fact: Olin Kreutz was the latest player to be rewarded in a group that includes Brian Urlacher, Mike Brown, Brad Maynard, Jason McKie and others.
Trust assistant coaches
IX. The Patriot oath: Belichick expects his assistants to challenge him intellectually and work as hard as he does. In return he lets them coach. From that approach over seven seasons, the Belichick coaching tree already has begun to sprout with former assistants Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel and Eric Mangini becoming head coaches. Working for Belichick requires men who need little direction and who have a lot of tolerance for criticism and a dash of innovation. The Patriots adjust in the first quarter of games as much as any team and alter game plans and approaches dramatically over the course of a 16-game season.
What they show the Bears on Sunday might look entirely different if the two teams meet again in the Super Bowl on Feb. 4.
Bear fact: Ron Turner is essentially head coach/offense and Ron Rivera and Dave Toub will be two of the league’s most sought-after assistants in the off-season. That indicates how much Smith trusts their input.
Value character guys
X. The Patriot oath: When Dillon was considered a team cancer in Cincinnati, the Patriots tested him by picking him up for an interview in an old car to see if he would balk at the regular-guy treatment. He didn’t, so they went through with the trade. Every potential Patriot, college prospect or free agent, must answer the question: How important is football to you? The answer goes a long way toward determining whether the player will fit into the championship environment. Intelligence also matters. Reportedly, no Patriots offensive linemen posted a Wonderlic score lower than 26 at the NFL combine.
Bear fact: Despite a spate of arrests last off-season, the core players in the Bears’ locker room make character a strength of the football team.
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dhaugh@tribune.com
