Oh come on, you knew Bill Belichick would go for it.
Up 23-20 in San Diego on Sunday, the Patriots faced a 4th-and-1 at their own 49-yard-line with two minutes remaining. They didn’t have any time outs, so if they went for it and didn’t convert they would be handing the ball back to the Chargers (who had all of their timeouts) in prime scoring position.
The situation was obviously eerily similar to when Belichick decided to go for it deep in their own field position against the Colts a few years ago and the Pats failed to convert. They went on to lose that game, but history didn’t repeat itself this time (ah, sort of).
BenJarvus Green-Ellis was stuffed on fourth down but after the Chargers moved the ball to New England’s 32-yard line, Kris Brown missed a 50-yard field goal that would have tied the game. It didn’t help that the field goal was five yards longer than it should have been following a false start by one of the Bolts’ offensive lineman, but it was a heartbreaking loss after San Diego battled back from a 23-6 fourth quarter deficit.
What also hurt was the fact that the Chargers were missing regular kicker Nate Kaeding, who was out with an injury. The field goal certainly wasn’t a gimmie, but the miss hurts nonetheless, especially for a San Diego team that is now 2-5 on the year.
As for Belichick, I assume that if he’s faced with a similar decision in the future that he’ll go for it again. He’s not going to change his style of coaching and he clearly buys into the notion that teams shouldn’t always punt when faced with a fourth down – no matter where they are on the field.
That doesn’t mean that he wasn’t fortunate today though. If the Pats would have went on to lose like they did to the Colts, that would have made them 0-2 when Belichick decided to go the less-conventional rout.
