NFL fans have seen a different Bill Belichick in the weeks following the New England Patriots improbably comeback win in Super Bowl LI. He celebrated fervently on the field after the game. He smiled a lot. He even started his own chant at the parade. It’s been weird.
The Patriots have had a chip on their shoulder since the dawn of the SpyGate scandal, centered around cheating accusations against Belichick and his coaching staff. The defensiveness only intensified after last year’s four-game suspension of Tom Brady for refusing to cooperate in the NFL’s DeflateGate witch hunt. And as they’ve dealt with the fallout from those scandals across the course of the last decade, Belichick’s disdain for the media has been at the forefront of their team persona.