As Super Bowl LI approaches, there isn’t any real question as to whether Bill Belichick is the best coach in the National Football League. There may not even be much of an argument as to whether he’s the greatest ever. Despite a heartbreaking loss in the 2017 CFP Championship Game, in NCAA football, the same could be said of Nick Saban. So if there’s no real competition for either in their respective fields, then let’s compare apples and oranges and determine which man is the gold standard for 21st century football coaching.

There are more than a few obvious similarities. Both are gruff defensive gurus who seem to loathe dealing with the media, who keep secrets like security guards at Fort Knox, and who are, in more or less equal measures, targets of love or hatred across their sports. Both men love “the process” — their modus operandi for staying focused in the here-and-now instead of counting trophies as both rule their respective games. But let’s break this comparison down. Everybody can’t win, and neither of these guys wants to finish second. Who’s the best?

Pre-dynasty work

Belichick was an assistant for a decade and a half in the NFL before getting a head coaching job. He was the defensive coordinator for New York Giants teams that won two Super Bowls. He stumbled to a 36-44 record in Cleveland in his first head coaching stint. He then assisted the Patriots for a year and the Jets for three, bizarrely agreed to accept the Jets’ head coaching job before backing out and becoming the New England Patriots’ head coach in 2000.

Saban similarly worked his way up for nearly two decades. He put in a 9-2 season at Toledo, and left to become a defensive coordinator in the NFL — under Belichick no less — for four seasons. He left the Browns after an 11-5 playoff campaign in 1994, while Belichick followed up with a 5-11 season in 1995. By that time, Saban was at Michigan State, where he revived a morbid team to a 34-24-1 mark. He then moved on to LSU, where he went 48-16, including the 2003 NCAA title. Saban flopped in two years with the Miami Dolphins, going 15-17, before jumping ship for Alabama weeks after denying that he would do so.

Belichick should get a point for mentoring his young defensive coordinator, but that aside, Saban’s pre-dynasty work is more impressive. Sure, Belichick helped win two Super Bowls, but Saban held the head coaching reins for an NCAA title and also helped bring Michigan State back to competitive status. Belichick’s NFL failure — and bizarre one-day tenure with the Jets — overshadow Saban’s job flip-flopping. Advantage: Saban.

Retooling

Belichick has been a ruthless talent evaluator, snapping up underrated free agents or coaxing the last grains of glory out of aging veterans. He gets what he can from players, but then dumps them quickly when they get too old or too expensive and replaces them with younger, cheaper versions.

Saban has owned recruiting at Alabama since 2008. He basically snags the players he wants, and leaves the rest for the other coaches to figure out. Similar to Belichick, there’s not a lot of tolerance for those who don’t share Saban’s love of “the process” or who don’t contribute on the field.

Saban has been an absolute phenomenon, but what Belichick has done in a game that is intentionally designed to promote parity is amazing. Watching Chris Hogan set playoff records last week suggests that if Saban wants to equal Belichick, he should win a title with a team comprised mostly of walk-ons. Advantage: Belichick.

On-field dominance

Belichick is 201-71 in New England. Since his initial 5-11 campaign in 2000, he has had a winning season every year. He has won 10 or more games in every year except 2002, when he won nine. He has 14 AFC East titles in 17 seasons, and is about to coach in his seventh Super Bowl, with a 4-2 record in those games. That said, Belichick went without titles between his 2004 and 2014 Super Bowl wins.

Jan 23, 2016; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama head coach Nick Saban speaks to fans during a presentation to celebrate the victory in the CFP National Championship game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports

Credit: Butch Dill-USA TODAY Sports

Saban is 119-19 at Alabama (officially 114-19 because of NCAA probation, but he won the other five games whether the NCAA knuckleheads acknowledge it or not). Since a 7-6 campaign in 2007, Saban has won 10 or more games every season. In 10 years at Alabama, he has won six division titles, five SEC championships, four NCAA championships, and twice more reached the CFP only to lose.

Both men are among the absolute best at what they do. An initial edge goes to Saban, based on the SEC West being an absolute impossibility to navigate. Belichick has owned the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins and the moribund New York Jets. Saban basically single-handedly ran Les Miles out of LSU after he won a national title and forced Gene Chizik out at Auburn two years after a national title. But Belichick is favored to win his fifth Super Bowl in 17 seasons. The NFL — with a draft, free agency, and massive competitive balance, is designed to encourage up-and-down cycles. The Patriots, unlike virtually anyone in modern NFL history, have just stayed up. Advantage: Belichick.

Scandal factor

Well, there was the video scandal at New England. There was Deflate Gate. And the Aaron Hernandez situation, while not one that Belichick can be directly blamed for, has been ugly. Perception is that Belichick not only will win by honest means, but that he’ll use dishonest ones if need be. Much of such a perception is overwrought, but the NFL hasn’t done much to help things with its uneven handling of the various scandals.

Saban, by comparison, is relatively clean. Sure, there’s an element of dishonesty in his job-hopping, especially in taking the Alabama job weeks after clearly denying that he would do so. He apparently isn’t always the nicest guy in the world, and sometimes has taken a light hand in disciplinary matters at Alabama.

Still, this one isn’t close. Belichick’s legacy will be at least somewhat tarnished by the scandals around him. Not Saban. Advantage: Saban.

So who is the winner’s winner?

It’s two categories to two, so how do we decide who is the coach of the 21st century? How about this — we’ll let it ride on Super Bowl LI. If Belichick can win two Super Bowls in three seasons with a completely retooled team, he really is the man. If not, we’ll take Saban. For that matter, Saban easily could have won a title a few weeks ago that would have defined him as the coach of all coaches. But he didn’t. And so, for now, we’ll let the decision ride on the Super Bowl.