You can sense the disdain in Bill Belichick’s voice whenever he mentions the name of the NFL team he once enjoyed defeating.

In the 2018 ESPN documentary “The Two Bills,” producers tried to get Belichick and his mentor Bill Parcells to enter the New York Jets’ locker room at MetLife Stadium. This would have been a nostalgic moment, as Belichick briefly coached the Jets in 2000, only to resign after one day by scribbling a simple note on a napkin, declaring, “I resign as HC of the NYJ.” He’s a man of few words, even when quitting a job he barely held.

Belichick left the Jets amidst ownership drama, particularly over concerns with Woody Johnson and a potential co-owner. He made a swift exit to become the head coach of the New England Patriots. This marked the beginning of Belichick’s long-standing dislike for the Jets, a grudge that’s now spanned 25 years and shows no signs of fading.

That history is worth keeping in mind now that the Jets have a vacancy after the unexpected firing of Robert Saleh. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich has stepped in as interim coach for the remainder of the 2024 season.

On the other hand, after parting ways with the Patriots in January—following 266 wins and six Super Bowl titles—Belichick is hoping for his next coaching opportunity. He’s just 15 wins shy of becoming the all-time leader in coaching victories, a record he’s eager to secure.

It’s tempting to link the 72-year-old coach to the Jets, given the potential drama. Imagine Belichick in New York, with a talented roster in win-now mode, led by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, whom he’s praised on several occasions. In the same division as the Patriots, no less, with a chance for payback. The theatrics would put Broadway to shame!

But that scenario is more likely a fantasy. Why?

Belichick holds onto grudges like few others. He had a close friendship with Eric Mangini, but that soured when Mangini joined the Jets and played a key role in the Spygate scandal.

Belichick, raised in Annapolis, Md., the son of a football coach, is both a student and historian of the game. He once expressed deep respect for Don Shula, the legendary NFL coach. But after Spygate, Shula remarked that the scandal “tainted” the Patriots’ legacy, a comment Belichick didn’t appreciate. Now, Belichick is determined to break Shula’s all-time wins record.

There’s more. Belichick helped turn Wes Welker into one of the league’s top wide receivers from 2007 to 2012. However, after a contract dispute, Welker left the Patriots, and his contributions have been mostly erased from team history. Despite being the franchise’s all-time leader in receptions and ranking third in receiving yards, Welker isn’t in the Patriots Hall of Fame, and you won’t find his photos at Gillette Stadium. Even now, as an assistant coach with the Miami Dolphins, Welker and Belichick never seem to catch up, unlike most former colleagues.

Now, back to the Jets.

They’ve built a solid roster, and Belichick does admire Rodgers, despite the quarterback’s recent decline. Plus, hefty paychecks can often help people bury old grievances.

Still, for Belichick to seriously consider the Jets, one of the NFL’s biggest grudge-holders would have to let go of a decades-long bitterness. And that’s assuming Jets owner Woody Johnson would even entertain the idea. Johnson seems to have his own pride, even referring to himself as “Ambassador Johnson” on the team’s website after serving as the U.S. ambassador to the U.K. from 2017 to 2021.

All of this makes a Belichick-Jets partnership seem unlikely, despite how intriguing it might be.

A more plausible option, with just as much drama, would be for the Jets to pursue Mike Vrabel, a former Patriots Hall of Fame player under Belichick. Vrabel, after six mostly successful seasons coaching the Tennessee Titans, was reportedly interested in coaching the Patriots. But when Robert Kraft quickly hired Jerod Mayo as Belichick’s successor, Vrabel never even got an interview.

Of course, the Belichick-Jets saga has more layers. Belichick once called his resignation from the Jets “one of the greatest moments of my career.” He relished beating them 15 straight times from 2016 to 2023—a remarkable streak in a league known for its parity. He even smirked during a 2019 blowout win over the Jets, exploiting a rule loophole to run two minutes off the clock while the Jets stood there confused.

Even now, Belichick still seems to be trolling the Jets. Just two weeks ago, on his weekly ESPN appearance with Pat McAfee, Belichick slyly commented on Sam Darnold, the quarterback the Jets drafted third overall in 2018, saying, “Everybody liked Darnold—except the Jets.”

All this does little to quell the speculation linking Belichick to the Jets whenever a coaching position opens up.

But for now, it doesn’t seem like the right fit for either side.