Last February the New England Patriots won their 4th Super Bowl championship in the last 14 years. Coach Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have been front and center for each one. In doing so they became only the second coach /quarterback combo to achieve 4 titles in the Super Bowl era. On Sunday they attended a ceremony hosted by Robert Kraft to receive the hardware commemorating the event.

With all that has hit this organization over the last couple of years, you knew Kraft was going to go all out. Detractors had said Belichick hadn’t won since Spy-Gate. The legacy of Tom Brady as the best quarterback of his generation, was in question by some pundits. Victory in Super Bowl XLIX completely laid those to rest.

First off the team had gone undefeated, played in two Super Bowls, and appeared in two more AFC Championship Games since. So where the Patriots hadn’t won since Spy-Gate argument came from never made sense. How Tom Brady held a 3-1…oops make that 4-1 advantage in Super Bowl victories somehow had him behind Peyton Manning was lunacy.

Going into Super Bowl XLVI, I already gave Belichick his laurels. Where Vince Lombardi was the NFL’s greatest coach of the first 50 years of pro football, Belichick is the greatest of the last 50. Eight trips to the AFC championship game, six Super Bowl appearances with four wins. No one comes within hailing distance of that type of performance.

It will be interesting to watch how pundits speak of this era of Patriot championships in the future. The first dynasty ended with their victory in XXXIX against the Eagles. Yet they won consistently for the next decade before winning it all 10 years later. Someone might bring up the 1980-1990 San Francisco 49ers, but they didn’t have two more trips to the Super Bowl between championships during their tenure. Just NFC Championship losses to the Dallas Cowboys.

What about the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990’s who won 3 championships in 4 years?? Well the first dynasty equaled that feat of 3 in 4 years and consistently won for a decade after that, appearing in 3 more Super Bowls winning one. Dallas won only 1 playoff game in the next decade after that.

Now if we put the Patriots up against the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s and the Green Bay Packers of the 1960’s the debate intensifies. Many will point to the Spy-gate and Deflate-gate incidents to tarnish their accomplishments, yet it’s not enough.

This run for sustained excellence is one of the best in NFL history. As The Chancellor of Football, looking at this ring I don’t think of  the 2014 championship, I think about the closing of an era. Last year they won on guile and quarterback know how, they weren’t clearly the best team. Yet they didn’t have to be.

Winning back in February had more to do with the championship mettle Belichick and Brady were able to instill in a new group of Patriots. Much like the 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers, 1995 Dallas Cowboys, and the 1967 Green Bay Packers they barely finished ahead of the pack. Will they do so in 2015?? You’ll need to read the previous article to see how The Chancellor thinks they’ll fare in 2015. It’s this bauble that cemented the legacies of the Patriots, Belichick, and Brady.

Thanks for reading and please share the article.