Patriots coach Bill Belichick is already the only head coach in NFL history to win five Super Bowls. But on Sunday he can also tie the record for total NFL championships, a record that hasn’t been equaled since before the Super Bowl was a thing.
George Halas won six NFL championships as head coach of the Bears, the first in 1921 (when the team was called the Chicago Staleys and the league was called the American Professional Football Association) and the last in 1963. Curly Lambeau won six NFL championships with the Green Bay Packers, the first in 1929 and the last in 1944. Those coaches are the only two with six league titles. Belichick will become the third if the Patriots beat the Eagles in Super Bowl LII.
Of course, Belichick is coaching in a very different NFL than Halas and Lambeau were. Halas and Lambeau were coaching -- and coaching against -- a lot of players who had other jobs and didn’t even necessarily consider football their primary occupation. With fundamental changes to the game ranging from two-way players to free agency, Belichick is doing a very different job than Halas and Lambeau.
But the result is the same: Great coaches who, if Belichick wins on Sunday, will have 18 NFL titles among them.