Bill Belichick wobbles atop his pedestal now, an acclaimed coach with expiring brilliance.

During the first three years of his life after Tom Brady, Belichick couldn’t shake mediocrity. Five miserable games into a new season, he probably longs to be so pedestrian.

The New England Patriots are the worst team in the NFL right now. They have a 1-4 record. They lost their past two games by a combined score of 72-3, the most lopsided defeats of Belichick’s career. Their offense averages 11 points a game and threatens to ruin young quarterback Mac Jones.

Since Brady left with little resistance in March 2020, Belichick has a 26-29 record, one postseason appearance and zero playoff wins.

Remember when Brady vs. Belichick was a thing? It was supposed to be a compelling Legacy Bowl. Who had the greater influence on the Patriots’ dynasty? How they fared apart would settle the debate. It never should have been a question.

The superstar player always matters most.

Brady made an emphatic statement by joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the middle of a pandemic and promptly capturing his seventh championship. Brady didn’t need to prove anything, but at 43 years old, he did it anyway. After the wonderment subsided, the natural reaction was to scrutinize the coach who built the organization that helped the quarterback win his first six titles.

Who is Belichick without Brady? It’s an unfair question to which you already know the answer. His record is not good: an 80-92 record, two postseason appearances, one playoff victory as the Cleveland Browns coach during the 1994 season. With Brady as the franchise player, the Patriots set an NFL record with 17 straight seasons of at least 10 victories, a streak that didn’t end until the quarterback left.

In the 10-plus seasons Belichick has coached without Brady, his teams have finished with double-digit victories just three times. That includes an 11-5 campaign in 2008, when Matt Cassel started 15 games after Brady tore up his left knee. New England didn’t make the playoffs that season, but it may have been Belichick’s best coaching job. It intensified the belief that the Patriots had a way of operating that superseded any individual. That may have been true in many cases, but Brady was indispensable.

Belichick’s task was to service the superstar’s persistent greatness and build an empire atop it. As the coach plummets to Earth and attempts to mumble through vulnerability in his typical, brusque manner, it’s easy to get tired of his act and pretend that Belichick didn’t have an extraordinary impact on all that winning. It’s easy to wonder whether his legacy must be altered now.

But the foundation upon which a fawning audience created the Belichick genius pedestal was flawed from the start. His story should be reframed to better capture his role in activating and sustaining a Brady-powered dynasty.

It’s foolish to suggest Belichick and the coaching staff made Brady just because he arrived as a sixth-round draft pick. Just the same, it’s a misrepresentation of Belichick’s Hall of Fame-bound career to downplay the triumphs and make the flat conclusion that the coach was good only when he had Brady. Great coaches don’t create legendary players, but they do enhance them with their strategy and put the proper pieces around them to accentuate their skills. When Brady entered the huddle as an injury replacement for Drew Bledsoe in 2001, he was born into the perfect situation: a solid veteran team with good balance that just needed composure and competence from the quarterback.

As Brady grew into stardom, Belichick and the front office were able to think about talent and roster construction differently. They valued dependability over sheer athleticism. They were ruthless in salary cap management. If they had holes on offense, Brady could cover them. If they weren’t great on defense, Belichick could whip up a game plan to try to confuse opposing quarterbacks and challenge offenses by going to exotic lengths to take away a specific strength.

For two decades, the Patriots used every tactical advantage and thrived in the clutch. At times, they bent rules. Even if you didn’t like them, you had to appreciate their organizational alignment and the commitment of owner Robert Kraft.

But for all the Patriots had going for them, Brady was the one who elevated them. At his level, it’s not about a system. He was a once-in-a-lifetime superstar who masked any deficiencies.

Now, they have whatever remains of Jones after all the struggles. Beyond the quarterback, the roster is poorly constructed, which may be Belichick’s biggest problem.

If the 71-year-old continues past this season, his dual role as coach and top football executive must be revisited. The Patriots had just one all-pro last season, punt returner Marcus Jones. The talent is inadequate, and on the field, they look more and more disheveled each season.

Mindless miscues defined last season. Now, they’ve veered into competitive no-show territory. The calls for change are growing louder. It’s hard to imagine Kraft firing him outright, especially in the middle of the season. But ever since last season’s offensive coordinator debacle, I’ve thought this relationship was headed toward a mutual agreement to separate.

Belichick will need to fight for an amicable ending. Losing by five touchdowns in back-to-back games is unacceptable. When he groaned through repeated references of the need to “start over” after Sunday’s 34-0 home loss to the New Orleans Saints, it was Belichick’s way of acknowledging how dire the situation has become.

As Belichick stumbles, you’re left to reflect on his entire journey. He’s still a mastermind, but with Brady long gone, there’s no one to reflect the ingenuity. The coach needed that anchor more than he will ever admit.

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