Bill Belichick is the greatest coach in NFL history, but if there’s one knock against him (well, outside of the two “-gate” scandals), it’s his rather unimpressive coaching tree. Four of his former assistants in New England have gone on to be NFL coaches; only one, Bill O’Brien, has won a playoff game.

That’s usually the first thing you hear when one of Belichick’s assistants are up for a head coaching job. You can bet Matt Patricia will hear questions about it when he is introduced as the Lions next head coach; the Detroit Free Press has reported it’s a done deal.

Patricia has been Belichick’s defensive coordinator since the 2012 season. He was given play-calling duties in 2010. He’s presided over two — possibly three — Super Bowl-winning defenses. His units have finished in the top-10 in points allowed every year since he was given the title of defensive coordinator, including a first-place finish in 2016. Patricia has the resume to move up the coaching ladder, but so did Romeo Crennel. So did Eric Mangini. And Josh McDaniels. And Charlie Weis. And Bill O’Brien. But none of them have been able carry Belichick’s magic along with them.

But Patricia is different. For a number of reasons. For one, he could have been an actual rocket scientist if he wanted to. More importantly, he’s a rare personality on New England’s staff in that he actually seems to have a personality. Remember when he wore the Roger Goodell clown shirt? That’s not a Belichick move.

That has been the problem with Belichick’s assistants who have gone on to be head coaches. They try to be Belichick, but that no-nonsense, totalitarian approach doesn’t fly with players without Belichick’s track record. By all accounts, Patricia is more of a players’ coach.

Several former Patriots have already vouched for him publicly, including Brandon Spikes, who told Sports Illustrated that his bond with Patricia went far beyond football…

“I would go to a dark place, and he’d talk to me,” Spikes says. “He had all this other stuff going on, and he would still find time. I don’t know how he did it. I could talk to him about anything. I mean, anything. It didn’t matter what time it was. I know I can call him anytime and he’s going to pick up.”

Crennel, McDaniels and Mangini were not getting that kind of love from former players.

All of Belichick’s assistants sound like him. They speak in that monotone voice and reveal little about themselves. Not Patricia. He’s charismatic. He’ll even crack a joke from time to time. Just listen to him explain New England’s goal line stand against the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX.

That was genuinely entertaining. And the bit about the Seahawks mascot? Could you imagine Belichick making a joke about the mascot. I’m not sure Belichick even knows mascots are a thing.

The first big test for Patricia in Detroit will be picking his offensive coordinator. GM Bob Quinn says the Lions’ next coach will have full control over his staff, so respected offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter, who has helped Matthew Stafford develop into a top-tier quarterback, could be on the outs. When McDaniels, Crennel and Mangini took over their teams, they brought in their guys to run their system. They brought in Belichick guys.

Patricia reportedly isn’t making that same mistake and will retain Cooter as his offensive play-caller. He is smart enough to know how important continuity between a quarterback and his system — especially a good system like Cooter’s — can be for an offense.

Coaches shouldn’t be married to one scheme or philosophy. They need to be willing to adapt to what works best for their players. Looking at the evolution of his defenses in New England from 2013 to 2017, it’s clear that Patricia understands this. Over that time, the Patriots have oscillated between being a man and zone team, between a 4-3 front and a 3-4 front. Forget year-to-year changes; New England’s defense changes week-to-week.

Wholesale changes were required after the Patriots defense got off to a woeful start in 2017. I wrote at the time that Belichick and Patricia would have trouble coaching themselves out of the mess because New England was devoid of talent along the front seven. I was wrong. After bleeding points over the first month or so of the season, New England led the league in points allowed in the second half.

The Patriots didn’t swing a trade to improve the front seven and give Patricia more to work with. There wasn’t really an overhaul of the scheme either. Patricia found the right mix of front seven players after shuffling the lineup multiple times early on, and the players started making better decisions in key situations and shored up their fundamentals.

Here’s Belichick on the Pats’ defensive turnaround, via NESN.com:

“Team defense. Good team defense, or better team defense, tackling, not giving up big plays, playing better in situations, third down, red area. We’re trying to do a lot of things better bit by bit … Just overall execution and awareness, seeing the plays. Sometimes, that half-step is the difference between making the play and giving it up. We have a lot of little things, a lot of guys working together. That’s been important, too.”

That’s the result of good, persistent coaching. Usually when a team is undisciplined and unsound fundamentally in September, the same is true in December. Not in New England. This defense seemed to get better every week.

Patricia was never going to be able to mold a dominant defense out of this bunch. But with the Patriots averaging 28.6 points a game, he didn’t need to. He just needed a defense that played good situational football.

That the Patriots finished fifth in points allowed is a minor miracle considering the lack of talent along the front seven. Look at the starting front, according to team’s official website…

DE Eric Lee

DT Lawrence Guy

DT Malcolm Brown

DE Trey Flowers

LB Kyle Van Noy

LB Elandon Roberts

That’s not exactly the 1970’s Steelers. It doesn’t even compare to Teddy Bruchsi, Willie McGinnest, Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy and Richard Seymour, the core group Belichick’s other defensive coordinators worked with. Patricia’s success isn’t directly tied to the greatest quarterback of all-time, either.

Patriots assistants have failed as head coaches because they can’t bring key players or Belichick’s clout along with them. But Patrica has never needed top talent to churn out a good defense. And he’s not going to try to mimic Belichick’s ruthless approach to managing a locker room.

The track record of Patriots assistants as head coaches may worry some Lions fans, but it shouldn’t. Patricia is different.