Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

Guess we’ll have our answer sooner than we would have liked.

It’s an argument that’s intrigued me for years. Who is the most indispensable member of the Patriots dynasty, Bill Belichick or Tom Brady? The Mastermind coach or the cool as an Altoid quarterback? I’d always figured the answer wouldn’t come till Brady retired, assuming of course that Belichick would stick around to prove he could win without number-12.

The timetable accelerated rapidly Sunday, when the karma gods turned on our boys in the Flying Elvis helmets. Actually, one could argue they turned sometime last February, but that’s a discussion we’ve already had. Time to argue about this one.

I’ve always approached the debate from the “sure, Belichick is a great coach, but he never won without Brady” angle. Now, you could argue Brady never won without Belichick, either. Then again, Tom Terrific never had the chance, so unless Matt Cassel lights up the scoreboard and the hooded one decides Brady’s salary isn’t worth it, we’ll probably never find out how an “in his prime” Tom Brady could perform outside of the Patriots system.

Remember, Belichick was 5-13 as New England coach before that fateful day when Mo Lewis took out Drew Bledsoe with a vicious hit. The mark was 36-44 over five years with decent options like Bernie Kosar and Vinnie Testaverde calling signals in Cleveland. Not exactly awe inspiring numbers, are they?

Of course, this line of thinking is in the minority. (Geez, there’s a shock. That stupid Panos guy taking an opinion outside the mainstream) Most people I broach the subject with think the Pats head man is a coaching genius, able to, as Bum Phillips once said about Don Shula, “take his’n and beat yours’n and take yours’n and beat his’n.” For those of you unfamiliar with Bum-speak, that’s a way of saying he could win with an inferior roster.

Well, Belichick now gets his chance to prove it, except he doesn’t have to do it with an inferior roster. He gets the exact same team most of you thought was good enough to win the Super Bowl, minus one player. He doesn’t have to wait till his team is in ruins at other key spots besides QB to rebuild and prove his coaching prowess. Richard Seymour and Rodney Harrison are still there. So are Randy Moss and Wes Welker. If it’s the system, then the system should work just fine with Matt Cassel running it.

Here’s how I’m going to score it. If Matt “I haven’t started a game since high school” Cassel leads the Patriots to the conference championship, then Belichick goes down in my book as the greatest coach in NFL history. He was THE reason for the Patriots dynasty. End of debate. No questions asked. He won’t even have to win the Super Bowl, since I didn’t think the Pats would win it with Brady in the first place. Just get to the conference title game, win or lose, and I’ll never doubt the man again, nor should anybody else.

The last two times the Patriots have taken the field in a game that counts have ended with their fans in total shock: First, they lost to the Giants. Then their leader, who hasn’t missed a game due to injury his entire career, goes down for the season with a knee injury.

Despite the “in Bill we trust” motto, the biggest shocker of them all would be if the Patriots were still playing in January.

So what do you think, gang? Can Belichick keep this team in title contention with Matt Cassel at QB?