Patriots: Bill Belichick must resign if he accepts Medal of Freedom

If Bill Belichick accepts the Medal of Freedom from President Trump, he should resign as Patriots head coach immediately.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has steadfastly refused to speak out of turn about anything non-football-related over his two-plus decades as head coach of the team.

Want to talk details of the loss that just reached the final whistle? Too bad; he’s onto Cincinnati, and you should be, too.

So, why is it that, at the tail end of the week when an armed mob of President Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building with zip ties and guns, intending to take the government hostage until they donated a second term to their megalomaniac temporary boss, Belichick stayed completely quiet, allowing a report to leak that he’d been offered the Medal of Freedom? Could it be that he actually intended to quietly go into the dark night to accept the honor from a national disgrace?

No more hiding, Coach. If this is the bed you intend to make, you must lie in it.

There is no “separating the art from the artist” with Donald Trump. You cannot decry the symphony while praising the conductor. If Belichick appears with this man at this moment, with a completely unnecessary ribbon around his neck, he shouldn’t plan to be a public figure moving forward.

This isn’t denying a medal over “political differences”; this is refusing to align yourself with a domestic terrorist. It’s the simplest American decision.

An honor that comes from the leader of an insurgent movement on our shore, who came within an eyelash of inciting a mob that murdered members of the senate and hanged his own Vice President, is no honor at all. It would, rightfully, be a disqualifying scarlet mark.

This is the reason Curt Schilling will never be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, magnified tenfold. Belichick, who famously never speaks out about anything personal, would leap the outspoken Schilling in a single bound with this decision. Think about telling yourself that five years ago.

It does speak to the incredible, cult-like pull of President Trump, though. Even at his lowest of low moments, the time in this country where he has caused an 1861 level of division, the famously private Belichick is still considering using the first full sentence he’s spoken in decades for pledging his loyalty.

If he’s not in accordance with Trump here, how has he not spoken out yet? How did he even let the news leak? Doesn’t this team have a PR arm? Or did they give up on positive press when they let Tom Brady take his own MAGA hat to Florida?

Of all the confounding moments of the past few years, Belichick’s last-ditch letter, mailed of his own accord to Trump while on the campaign trail, still sticks out as the most bizarre reveal. This is an intensely private man, usually focused only on football, who took time out of his day during the football season to mail a personal letter to a presidential candidate — and not just any candidate, but one who’d already thrown every norm of polite society into his personal dumpster.

Fans forgave and forgot, because they are fans. And because they support the brand name over any man.

But when Brady left this offseason, this fan base proved it has the ability to swiftly obliterate memories. Brady? Never heard of him; we’re onto the vacancy.

If Belichick plans to test this hypothesis by acting as a PR shield for a domestic terrorist leader in the final cursed weeks of a cursed four years, then he can’t be allowed back through the facility door. The coach who’s spent decades preaching ruthless efficiency and attention to detail certainly let a big one slip this weekend.

Whatever happened to “Do Your Job”? Because last time we checked, his ridiculously overblown and greedy rumored contract didn’t come with a required pledge of fealty to a wannabe dictator.