MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — At some point, even the most reluctant are going to have to respect the rings. You might not agree to kiss the rings. But you should honor them.
The remarkable, otherworldly excellence the Patriots were striving to continue Sunday night against the Eagles in Super Bowl LII cannot be ignored, even for those who detest them for their annoying constant success, their coach’s public displays of dismissive arrogance and the irritating smugness of their star quarterback.
The Patriots, led by coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, are trying to win their sixth Super Bowl in 17 seasons Sunday night. That’s half the time it took for the Steelers to win their first and record-setting sixth Lombardi Trophies.
Since 2001, the beginning of this ride Belichick and Brady have lorded over, the Patriots have a .768 regular-season winning percentage and are 27-9 (.750) in the postseason, having missed the playoffs just twice. In that span, they’ve reached 12 AFC Championship Games and eight Super Bowls.
As the full-time starter, the longest Brady has gone without playing in a Super Bowl has been two seasons.
With a win in Super Bowl LII, Brady would become the only NFL player with six championship rings, Belichick, already the only head coach in NFL history to win five Super Bowls, would tie George Halas and Curly Lambeau for the most NFL championships and the Patriots sixth Super Bowl title to match the Steelers for most ever.
A look at the Patriots compared to some of the other most dominant runs in NFL history, shows their superiority.
The 49ers are the only organization that did anything close to the Patriots’ run, having won five Super Bowls in 14 seasons (1981-94) with a .738 winning percentage in the regular season and a 19-7 record (.731) in the playoffs. They played in nine NFC Championship Games and five Super Bowls.
The Patriots (2001-04) and Cowboys (1992-95) are the only teams to win three Super Bowls in four seasons, and with a win Sunday night they would have accomplished that twice (2015-2018).
The Steelers won four Super Bowls from 1974-79, making them the first dynasty after the 1970 merger. But they could not sustain it, after their fourth title going four seasons without a playoff win.
Former Patriots linbebacker and current ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi said on a conference call last week that “winning becomes an addiction.’’
“It’s hard to suppress success,’’ Bruschi said.
Bruschi related a story about Brady after their win in Super Bowl XXXIX over the Eagles, which gave them back-to-back titles for the first time. Brady was among several New England players at the Pro Bowl and they were hanging around together in Hawaii before the game.
“Tom looked at us and he said, ‘No one has ever won three [Super Bowls] in a row,’ ’’ Bruschi recalled. “There was silence amongst all of us [and] I said, ‘Hey, we haven’t gotten our rings yet … take it easy. Let’s enjoy this.’
“I’m still sore from the game [and] he’s thinking about winning another one,’’ Bruschi went on. “It’s just that way for him. I think it’s that way for Belichick also. It’s never enough. And I don’t think it’ll ever be enough for Tom. If they do get six, all they’ll be thinking about is seven. It’s an addiction. Winning becomes an addiction.”
The results that have come along with that so-called addiction are what has spawned so many Patriots haters. The Spygate and Deflategate scandals the Patriots have been involved in also have not helped their popularity outside of New England.
“I wouldn’t use the word hatred,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft reasoned earlier in the week when addressing the anti-Patriot sentiment. “But look, everyone wants to root for the underdogs. I understand that, and I hope we can just help them feel that way for many more years.”Matthew Slater, the Patriots veteran special teams maven and one of the class acts in their locker room, said he wished fans would not paint the Patriots with a broad brush.
“I wish people would realize that we have a lot of nice guys on this team if people would take the time to see that,’’ Slater said. “But that’s the beauty of sports. Fans make the sport fun and passionate, and we enjoy it.’’
As a football fan and even as a Patriots detractor, you don’t have to enjoy it and you don’t have to kiss the rings, but you should respect or at least marvel at the unparalleled excellence.