Super Bowl 51 has two different coaches facing off; Bill Belichick and Dan Quinn will be the catalysts for loss or victory more than any of their players could be.
Coming into Super Bowl 51, Bill Belichick has more Super Bowls under his belt than Dan Quinn has playoff games. It’s a classic case of a veteran taking on an upstart. Both coaches deserve to be in the Super Bowl. The 14-2 New England Patriots weathered a Tom Brady suspension and still looked sharp. The 11-5 Atlanta Falcons completely dominated opponents with a superb offense. They both displayed great resiliency through the season and the playoffs.
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That resiliency is most well noted with the Patriots. Belichick’s crew faced a major handicap upon entering the season with All-World quarterback Tom Brady suspended. Somehow they lost just one game despite dipping down to third-string quarterback Jacoby Brissett for two games.
Rather than get stuck in the mire of an unwanted situation, the Patriots rallied around their head coach like never before. Belichick reaffirmed his place as the master of the team. In a tour de force, Belichick’s Patriots posted a 14-2 record, his best since 2010.
In contrast, the Falcons have had to be resilient on a longer scale. Recovering from a 6-10 season in 2014, Quinn led the Falcons to 8-8 in his first season as head coach in 2015. That was hard-fought progress for a team that lost itself under former head coach Mike Smith.
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That 2015 team won its first five games and started the season 6-1 only to completely collapse in the latter half of the season. To say the Falcons were struggling would be an understatement.
Entering 2016, people knew the Falcons had talent, but they weren’t sure the situation was right for success. After all, the 2015 collapse was fresh on everyone’s mind and did not speak to the team’s ability to respond well when things went south. 2016 proved that the Falcons can respond well and that the talent does have the right leadership to bring it back to relevance. The Falcons showed some serious grit in getting back to form and sustaining it in 2016 after 2015’s incredibly rough ending. Now, with just one game left, Super Bowl 51 will be decided by the coach that can respond best. The resiliency got them to the big game, it’s time to put it all on the line.
At first glance it looks like that would favor Belichick more than Quinn. The experience and sustained success make the Patriots formidable. Belichick’s penchant for creative problem solving also make him a popular selection.
But to discount Quinn straight away would be a mistake. His Falcons have come a long way under his tutelage, ultimately becoming the most fearsome offense in the NFL. He will need to have his best game as a coach, guiding offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and the rest of his staff to be consistent with what worked through 2016 while also including some new wrinkles to throw off the Pats.
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The players get most of the attention in a Super Bowl. They deserve much of the praise heaped on them. Yet it’s the coaches that may ultimately be most important in Super Bowl 51. Veteran vs upstart, the Patriots vs Falcons brings the NFL the opportunity to see whether the young vanguard has what it takes to beat out the established powerhouse of the NFL.