A winning culture for any team, no matter the sport, always has its slogan. For twenty years, Bill Belichick told the players of the New England Patriots to “do your job.” Tom Brady yelled out into the crowd, “LFG” (you know what that acronym means). Recently, Stefon Diggs chanted the words, “we all we got, we all we need.” It’s these sayings that define an era of winning in New England.
As the Patriots head to southern Ohio this week to take on the Cincinnati Bengals, another saying from a bygone era is being echoed, and it’s one that carried a lot of weight in the back half of the Brady/Belichick dynasty in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
“We’re on to Cincinnati.”
Pats fans remember it like it was yesterday. Even former offensive lineman David Andrews spoke about it this week on his podcast, The Quick Snap. The 2014 squad was embarrassed in a Monday Night Football matchup on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs. Tom Brady was benched for the first time in his career in the second half of a game that would end with the Chiefs winning 41-14.
The team would fall to 2-2, and it was then that the question arose: was the team on a downward spiral from greatness into mediocrity? Were Brady’s best days behind him? Was Belichick going to be out of a job come January?
Belichick answered questions from the press after the matchup, the only way he knew how. By putting the team’s bad performance behind them, because they had a game that Sunday night at home against the Bengals, therefore, they “we’re on to Cincinnati.”
Any reporter who had a question that raised the slightest doubt in the team, Belichick immediately cut off by saying the team’s new slogan.
Six days later, to a packed house at Gillette Stadium that was potentially full of nerves about the idea of whether their dynasty was in peril, the Patriots set them at ease when they drove down the field on the opening drive to kick the game off with a bang.
The Pats would finish off the Bengals in dominant fashion, winning 43-17. Brady returned to form with 292 yards and would become the sixth QB in NFL history to pass 50,000 passing yards.
The game was also what kicked off the streak that took them all the way to Malcolm Butler’s interception in Super Bowl XLIX, which won the team their fourth championship.
Since the “we’re on to Cincinnati” game, the Patriots have gone 3-1 against the Bengals. Now, they head to Paycor Stadium with many fans echoing the famous Belichick saying.
Although it came at a time of uncertainty for the team in 2014, it now arises at a time of confidence. The Patriots have played one game at a time week in and week out. No matter if it was a team below .500 or a division leader, they have been focused on their opponent, and this week they are indeed on to Cincinnati.
The social media buzz around it can generate some hype for the game, but in reality, this time around, the message of the saying is more meant to convey just how focused this team is and how much of a threat they are on the field.
The four words that Belichick uttered in a press conference that came after a brutal loss became symbolic as to what the Patriots are, no matter who’s coaching or signal-calling from the line of scrimmage. They’re a team that, as quickly as they succeed or even fail, they move on. Onto the next challenge, the next game, the next team, even if that isn’t Cincinnati.
