Patriots

Bill Belichick moves into a tie for 2nd place in all-time wins with Patriots’ victory over Browns

Belichick tied George Halas with 324 career victories and is now 23 behind Don Shula on the all-time leaderboard.

By AJ Nelson

October 16, 2022

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Facing off against the team that made him an NFL head coach, Bill Belichick continued his climb up all the all-time wins leaderboard on Sunday.

New England’s 38-15 victory over the Cleveland Browns marked career win No. 324 (regular season and playoffs combined) for Belichick, moving him into a tie for second place with former Chicago Bears head coach George Halas.

Belichick now trails only Don Shula on the career wins list. Shula finished his storied career with 347 wins, 23 more than Belichick’s current mark.

Of Belichick’s 324 wins, 293 have come in the regular season. With 31 playoff victories, he holds the all-time postseason wins record by a wide margin (Tom Landry has the second-most with 20).

Belichick began his head-coaching career with the Cleveland Browns in 1991. He compiled a regular season record of 36-44 (1-1 postseason) in five seasons with Cleveland before being fired following the 1995-96 season.

Coincidentally, Belichick’s first career win, as well as his first-ever playoff win, both came against the Patriots.

Since he was named New England’s head coach prior to the 2000-01 season, Belichick has put together a 257-102 record in the regular season (30-12 postseason).

Following Sunday’s win, Belichick credited his players and coaches throughout the years for his continued success.

“You can’t win games in this league without good players, so I’ve been very fortunate to have coached a lot of great players and have a lot of great coaches on my staffs through the years,” Belichick said regarding the milestone.

“A lot of those guys have gone on to have tremendous careers, and the players, obviously, many of them are Patriots Hall of Fame, NFL Hall of Fame, or are going to be,” he continued.

Belichick also reflected on the man he moved into a tie on the wins leaderboard with, calling George Halas one of his “idols.”

“Coach Halas was a friend of my dad’s … when they came to Baltimore [to play the Baltimore Colts when Belichick’s father was coaching at Navy in Annapolis] and we would go to the locker room after the game, they were always very gracious and generous and let me hang around,” Belichick remembered.

“Ton of respect for Coach Halas …  and what he did for professional football, and the way that he, and since we’re here [in Cleveland], Paul Brown, and others like them paved the way for us as coaches and for the National Football League to grow to what it is today,” he continued. “They laid down a lot of the building blocks.” 

Belichick will have a chance to surpass Halas and move into sole possession of second-place on the all-time wins list when the Patriots take on the Bears next Monday night.