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Bill Belichick won’t be serving as an NFL coach in any capacity this season for the first time in 45 years, although he apparently had the chance to keep that streak alive based on the job offer he decided to turn down before pivoting to broadcasting.
The New England Patriots were one of the eight NFL teams that found themselves searching for a new head coach earlier this year after deciding to part ways with Bill Belichick after finishing in the basement of the AFC East with a 4-13 record, and it didn’t seem like a stretch to assume one of the other seven would secure the talents of the second-winningest coach in the history of the league.
Belichick was officially invited to interview with the Falcons before they opted to promote former defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, and while the Commanders reportedly briefly entertained the possibility of bringing him aboard, the legendary skipper was left out in the cold when they hired Dan Quinn to fill the last remaining vacancy.
The 72-year-old did end up landing a new job when he inked a deal with Inside the NFL earlier this month, and there’s plenty of speculation he’s prepared to mount a comeback if the Giants, Cowboys, or Eagles find themselves in need of a new head coach in the near future.
However, it turns out Belichick did have the chance to link up with a Super Bowl contender based on what San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan had to say on a recent episode of The TK Show.
During his conversation with The Athletic‘s Tim Kawakami, Shanahan admitted he reached out to Belichick to see if he had any interest in a role with the franchise (including the defensive coordinator position that was eventually filled by Nick Sorensen), saying:
“He loves football so much that you never know what he … I can’t believe that he’s not a head coach of a team right now. I know what I would do if I was an owner, so that shocks me, and the last thing you want to do is insult someone like Bill Belichick.
But I know he just loves ball in its simplest form, so I threw it all out to him, whatever he wanted to do…
I was like, ‘Would you be interested?’ And he was very nice and appreciative, but he politely turned me down.”
It’s hard to blame Belichick for taking a slightly cushier gig as opposed to downgrading to a job that would require much more time and effort—just like it’s hard to blame Shanahan for shooting his shot.