Belichick's Possible Final Press Conference as Coach of the Patriots Was a Masterclass in Manly Stoicism

I'll have a lot to say about the Patriots dreary, uneventful loss to the Jets in the morning. But if ever there was a time when a game was secondary to the story that surrounded it, this is that game. It will have to wait. Now is all about Bill Belichick and his uncertain future. 

Whether the best coach to ever coach will still be coaching in Foxboro 24 hours from now remains to be seen. All we have on actionable intelligence to operate with now is that the Patriots just lost at home to an abysmal Jets team led by their fourth starting quarterback of the season. That they managed 3 points and 119 yards of total offense. That they fell to 4-13. And with all this as a backdrop, Belichick strode to the podium like a Colossus. Stood under the white hot lights. Looked the world straight in the eye. Kept the emotions of the moment in check. And even though he was visibly ill to the point he had to do his Friday presser remotely, summoned the strength to face the media. Then, for approximately the 500,000th time in his Patriots career, commanded the room like no lesser being in the same situation could have:

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He dodged a couple of other questions about Mac Jones being a healthy scratch and what Bailey Zappe's future holds. And of course deflected a couple of soft wrist shots (from Dan Shaughnessy, ignoring his opening remarks saying he won't be talking about the future until he and Mr. Kraft had their annual post-season meeting) into the stands:

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Then, in the toughest moment of all for a man who prefers not to talk about himself ever, had to deal with the raw emotion of paying tribute to Matthew Slater. Which is more than any mere mortal could ever be expected to on a day like this. Mic drop:

If that should be it, it was Belichick going out in Belichick style. Not with the W-L record. Not the way he drew it up. Not calling it quits at a Super Bowl parade and then beaming back to his homeworld the way I'd always dreamed it would be. But His Way. True to himself. Tough. Unyielding. Uncompromising. Fearless. Virile. Masculine. 

As the great Stoic Philosopher King Marcus Aurelius put it in his masterwork Meditations:

[T]o fly into a passion is not a sign of manliness, but rather, to be kind and gentle. For insofar as these qualities are more human, they are also more manly. It is the man who possesses such virtues who has strength, nerve, and fortitude, and not one who is ill-humoured and discontented. Indeed, the nearer a man comes in his mind to freedom from unhealthy passions [apatheia], the nearer he comes to strength. Just as grief is a mark of weakness, so is anger too, for those who yield to either have been wounded and have surrendered to the enemy.

I say again no one other than the men who meet in that office at One Patriots Place every year the day after the season ends know what is in store. And perhaps even they don't know yet. All the rest of us can do is wait. And hope. And respect that the man who's career hangs in the balance after 24 years on the job stood his ground. The GOAT doesn't change for anybody. 

Kiss the rings.