On The Road To The Super Bowl

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is known for his trademark hoodie, a scowl and his five Super Bowl championship rings.

Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay owns a reputation for his liberal use of hair gel and turning his team from a trash fire into a potential titlist in two seasons.

Belichick is 66, McVay 33. Super Bowl LIII on Sunday in Atlanta matches the reigning NFL genius against the next generation of brilliance.

As NFL teams dumped their head coaches at season’s end, they attempted to raid the Patriots’ pantry and to grab branches off the McVay tree, even though it’s a shrub at this stage. After the Super Bowl, Pats linebackers coach and defensive signal-caller Brian Flores will, by all indications, be named the Miami Dolphins coach, bringing with him at least one assistant. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels interviewed for jobs, but stayed put.

Other teams clamored for “the next McVay” and hired coaches who had worked with him at the Washington Redskins (Matt LaFleur to the Green Bay Packers) and his Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor (heir apparent to the Cincinnati Bengals throne).

McVay has a promising third-year QB in Jared Goff; Belichick has Tom Brady. This will be Goff’s first Super Bowl and Brady’s ninth.

McVay was a youthful and anonymous presence on a Redskins coaching staff headed by Mike Shanahan and his son/offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. Funny how history can repeat itself.

When the Rams won the Super Bowl after the 1999 season, they did it with a brilliant offense implemented by new coordinator Mike Martz, who had come from the Redskins. And when Brady won his first Super Bowl, after the 2001 season, it was against the Rams … coached by Martz.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman