To this day, the public remains mystified as to why Bill Belichick may have so abruptly benched his starting cornerback, Malcolm Butler, before Super Bowl LII. After it resulted in 41 points allowed, it comes as little surprise that even players have second-guessed their coach, but we’re none the wiser on what led to the decision.
Butler signed with the Tennessee Titans in free agency, and in a recent appearance on Sports Illustrated’s Under the Cover series, he expressed his disbelief with the way things ended:
“There was times when I was on the sideline and I just wanted to go up and say to Belichick or [Patriots defensive coordinator] Matt Patricia and just say, ‘This how we’re gonna end this?’ [...] I was close to going up there and saying what I wanted to say to Matt or Belichick, but I just stayed in my lane and just did my job. I really wanted to go ask them, but I didn’t.” —Malcolm Butler
It’s hard to say when exactly this interview may have been filmed, so things may have reached a resolution when Belichick finally reached out to Butler for the first time since the Super Bowl this week. With that said, we still don’t know why Belichick benched Butler.
If nothing else, Butler is speaking more calmly about this now than he did in the aftermath of the game:
People will move on, even without an answer, because that’s how time works. Butler will be rendering his services to the Titans next season, and the Patriots will have another cornerback. With all due respect to Butler, it does seem unlikely that one player would have really swung things either way in Super Bowl LII.
But... you never do know what could’ve happened.
