NFL Great Disrespects Packers Legend With Lombardi Trophy Suggestion

When the Super Bowl kicks off next Sunday, the Green Bay Packers will have a presence. It won’t be because the Packers are playing in the game as they look ahead to an eventful offseason. But just like every year, the two teams will battle for the Lombardi Trophy.

The trophy has been awarded to the winner of the Super Bowl since its inception in 1967 and was renamed to honor legendary Packers head coach Vince Lombardi after his death in 1970.

But earlier this week, a fellow coaching great had an idea to rename the trophy in what would be a slap in the face to the coach who led the Packers to win the first two Super Bowls.

Bill Belichick Suggests NFL Should Re-Name the Lombardi Trophy to the Tom Brady Trophy

Former New England Patriots and current North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick had an interesting suggestion during the most recent episode of his “Let’s Go” podcast on SiriusXM this week that the NFL should rename the Lombardi Trophy to the Tom Brady trophy.

While Belichick mentioned that Brady had won seven Super Bowls compared to Lombardi’s two, he also explained that it’s the players who help the coaches win the games that result in getting the trophy at the end of the year.

“Players win games. You can’t win games without good players. I don’t care who the coach is. It’s impossible,” Belichick explained. “You can’t win without good players. I found that out when I had…all those guys on the Giants. It was the same thing when we got good again in Cleveland and then at New England. …Those are the guys that won the games. I didn’t make any tackles. I didn’t make any kicks.”

Belichick’s argument is valid when you consider the players he has worked with during his career. When Belichick was a defensive coordinator under Bill Parcells with the New York Giants, [Lawrence] Taylor, [Carl] Banks, Harry Carson, Pepper Johnson, Jim Burt and Everson Walls helped capture a Super Bowl in 1987 and 1991.

The six-time Super Bowl champion was also surrounded by greats when he coached the Patriots including Brady, Teddy Bruschi, Willie McGinest, Randy Moss and Adam Vinateri and stated that the coach’s job was simply to find a way to help those players win the game.

“As a coach, you want to give your players a chance to win,” Belichick said. “You want to put them in a position where if they go out there and play well, they have a chance to win. That’s what Coach Parcells taught me. There’s always a way to win. You just have to figure out what it is and you have to give the players a chance.”

Even if Belichick is right, it’s still an awkward suggestion. As his co-host mentioned, the NFL could have named it “The Bart Starr Trophy” if they wanted to but went with Lombardi instead. It would also be an interesting shift as other sports leagues don’t typically remove a legend from a trophy as time goes on.

Think about the NHL where the Stanley Cup didn’t rename its trophy after Wayne Gretzky. MLB hasn’t renamed the Commissioner’s Trophy after Yogi Berra after his 10 titles. Although the NBA changed the name of its championship trophy in 1984, it was named after former commissioner Larry O’Brien instead of Michael Jordan.

Making a similar shift with the Lombardi Trophy would be unprecedented and a slap in the face to a Packers legend who helped make the Super Bowl what it is today.

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