The final two episodes of 'The Dynasty: New England Patriots' have been released, detailing how things ended in Foxborough.

A Super Bowl championship in 2019 would keep most team's together, but not for Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.

After 20 years together and six Super Bowl championships, the two decided to part ways. So here's how it all happened.

Here are the meaningful moments from "The Dynasty: New England Patriots" Episode 10: End Game

Super Bowl LII

Despite Tom Brady's incredible performance in the Patriots' loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Belichick didn't have much to say about the quarterback all these years later. 

“I mean offensively, they scored more points than we did," the head coach said in his interview during the final episode. "So give their staff and players credit.”

So after the defeat, Brady was using his voice and was very clearly upset over Belichick's handling of things.  

“The tension between Bill and Tom was clear. I asked Tommy to come over to my house and air out what was going on,” Kraft said. "Tommy and Giselle came to my house and they were really upset. I had Giselle say, ‘that f***** Belichick, he doesn’t treat my Tommy like a man.’ She thought Bill was disrespectfully to Tommy and that it was time to move on. I realize how bad the situation was, and I said, ‘Look Tommy, if you want to go, I’ll work it out so you can go.”

And it seems Brady was considering it. 

“There are things that I’d like to keep to myself," he said. "Look there’s no perfect relationship. And there’s things that are said and are done that can’t be unsaid or undone.”

A Notable Absence 

When offseason workouts began, Tom Brady was missing for the first time. And instead, he took the time away from the field and spent it with his family. 

But when minicamp started, Brady showed up ready to go. 

“Tommy and I, we had a conversation and he said it was his intention to stay. But we would have to make concessions, including getting Alex Guerrero back in the fold,” Kraft said. “Bill was pissed. Allowing Alex Guerrero back, it was the one time through 20 years that I have really stepped in and got involved.

“Bill felt this was really a questioning of his authority and his ability to govern. But I had the greatest player and the greatest coach. I was going to do whatever I got to do to try to keep it patched together and make it happen.”

Motivation

The tension between Belichick and Brady was not good. However, it was clearly motivating them both to succeed.

“But both Bill and Tom seek motivation anywhere they can get it," Jonathan Kraft said. "And I think the tension in the relationship pushed each of them to sort of perform in spite of the other.” 

And the Patriots owner hoped that this would change the dynamic between the duo. 

“Sometimes I’m a little naive and believed that winning was the special elixir that would help Bill and Tommy’s relationship," Kraft said. "But it was still unnatural and uncomfortable

While they were winning, things got so bad during the season that Brady was asking Slater to relay messages to Belichick. The two leaders of the team were not talking to each other. 

“I mean every relationship ebbs and flows," Brady said. "He’s got to make decisions that he thinks is best and I have my own decisions that I think are best. We just didn’t talk about it a lot.”

And as Kraft said, it went from tension to dysfunction. 

2019 AFC Championship 

The Patriots had competed all throughout the season and were just one game away from the Super Bowl. 

Yet despite the success, Kraft had come to a very sad realization. 

“Even though we had made the playoffs, I realized we couldn’t keep Bill and Tom together forever. Eventually there could be only one. Either Bill or Tom,” Kraft said. “Tommy is the greatest in the 100 year history of the game. And I think he represented a threat to Bill’s full power. He didn’t want Tommy there. And so when you come to this decision, Brady or Belichick, I thought back to the Eagles Super Bowl. 

“Tommy threw over 500 yards, but Bill made a tremendous error. I credited Bill with that loss. To be honest, my head coach is a pain in the tush. But I was willing to put up with it as long as we won. So for the next Super Bowl, I wanted to keep an eye on him”

But through it all, Brady and Belichick's sixth ring was in sight. 

Super Bowl LIII

The Patriots against the Los Angeles Rams. That was the matchup that would determine who would be crowed the champion. 

And many people had already counted New England out. 

“The Rams prior to Super Bowl 53, their strengths were all. They were very explosive, had a great offense, and they were very well coached,” Belichick said. “They pretty much hammered everyone. We knew it was going to be tough to stop them.”

However, what they weren't counting on was the Patriots' secret weapon (which really wasn't a secret after all). And that's that they had the best defensive mind in the game. 

“Going into the game, they said Ram’s offense is too good. Sean McVay’s unstoppable. But what they didn’t realize is, Bill was always finding the edge that most people wouldn’t think about,” Devin McCourty said. “Leading up to the game, he watched film and was able to figure out that the Rams have a hard time playing against zone defense. For 18 regular season games, you couldn’t find us playing that style of defense, but Bill was like, ‘Alright let’s switch to zone.’”

While this might have seemed impossible in such a short time, Belichick was willing to do it. 

“It is a gutsy move that late into the season, but his ability to like a chameleon, change to tackle weakness is really, I think, unmatched,” Slater said. 

And it completely worked. As McCourty said, "It totally threw them off."

When the clock hit zero and the Patriots were victorious, the media seemed to think this reaffirmed one thing in Belichick's mind. 

“I think to win the Super Bowl the way the Patriots did, 13-3, Belichick had probably reestablished in his mind that defense could still win games," NBC Sports' Tom Curran said. "We don’t need to be spending all this money on quarterbacks… I can get it done.”

Kraft also knew in that moment that Belichick wasn't going anywhere. 

“After winning that Super Bowl, I thought what an amazing defensive job our staff did under the leadership of Bill," Kraft said. "So if I ever thought that Bill was losing it as a head coach and couldn’t perform, he had reestablished himself. At that point, Tommy understood that Bill would be the head coach for a number of years going forward.”

So for Brady, his time in New England had come to an end. 

“Me and Coach Belichick, we did what we loved and we competed for 20 years together. But I wasn’t going to re-sign another contract," Brady said. "Even if I wanted to play until 50, I knew that based on how things had gone, I wasn’t going to sign up for more of it.” 

The Breakup

While the ending might have appeared ugly, the experiences the two shared together will never be forgotten. And because of that, they will always respect each other. 

But Brady decided to officially let Kraft know his decision at the owner's home one night. 

“Tommy called to say he’d like to come over. When we walked into the room, he said, ‘I’ve decided to move on,’ Kraft recalled. "As soon as he said it, he started crying. And his crying told me everything I needed to know.”

But in that moment, there was one person missing from the equation. 

“He said, I think we should call Bill," Brady added. "And then when Bill answered, it was emotional because it was a chapter coming to an end. And I just expressed that to Bill too.”

At this point, everyone knew it was for the best. 

“I would say that’s kind of what I expected," Belichick said. "But saying goodbye’s always hard and I loved coaching Tom, loved having him on our football team. But at that point in time, I think he made the right and the best decision.” 

Brady Says Goodbye

To this day, Brady still gets choked up thinking about this decision. And it was clear as he spoke during the documentary that there were tears in his eyes. 

“Life is very imperfect and relationships are imperfect, but I’m very proud of our journey, Brady said.  It was hard, but it was great."

When the news first broke, his teammates were left speechless. And they all found out at the same time as the rest of them. 

Slater: “I found out tom was leaving the same way most everyone did and that was through the news.” 

McCourty: “I found out on Twitter. And I’m like, ‘what the h***.” 

Julian Edelman: “I found out Tom was leaving on the bottom ticker or NFL Network… That was a tough one.” 

Brutally Honest Takes

"It was an emotional moment. I envisioned Tom finishing his career here. But storybook, fairytale endings don’t always happen in life.” Jonathan Kraft said. “It wasn’t what I personally wanted, I know it’s not what my dad wanted. But it really had run its course. It was just the right decision for him.”

So watching Brady go on to win his seventh Super Bowl elsewhere was hard for the entire organization. But especially Kraft. 

"I would have liked to see his seventh Super Bowl as a Patriot,” he admitted. 

And he was even asked if he thinks Brady would have stayed if Belichick left. 

“Yes, I feel pretty strongly about that. Yes,” Kraft added. “To be honest, I didn’t want to move on from either one. But to be honest, keeping them together for 20 years was the hardest thing I’ve done in my business career. Nothing is perfect in this world as much as we would like it to be. This is life and that’s what happens. And how you deal with it, and how you moved on.”

And Amendola will stand by the fact that he believes the Patriots made a big mistake. 

“I could have got the kid from Foxborough High School to tell you that you shouldn’t have let Tom Brady go,” he said bluntly. 

Tom Brady returns

On Sept. 10 2023, Brady returned to Gillette Stadium for a game to honor all he did for the organization.  

Final Thoughts

Willie McGinest: “You got to have the right guys with the right mentality. Everybody’s got to guy in, everybody's got to be unselfish. You got to have the core group of men who are going to go down the same road together and battle the same way together. That will sacrifice their personal life's for what they’re doing. It’s uncanny. Like it doesn't happen.”

Ernie Adams: “Everybody wants to go to the Super Bowl. Not that many people really want to do what it takes to get there. All the lifting weights in February, training camp, those late nights just sitting there. It’s dark, your tired but you got to watch that film. And that’s the stuff that nobody sees. Well people say there’s no fun, but our fun frankly was being on the field after the Super Bowl with the confetti pouring down and your fingerprints on the Lombardi trophy. That’s the objective.”

ESPN's Howard Bryant: “And now, after 20 years of dominance, you have two people who can say, ‘There’s not a single person in the history of mankind who is better than me at what I did.’ And then there’s a third one, Robert Kraft, who can say, ‘i’m responsible for keeping them together.’ They rewrote history and so no matter how you feel about how they got there, it’s a pretty good place to be.” 

Brady: “In the end you look back, and seeing that whole journey, it’s perfect. It doesn’t need to be more than that. My teammates, Robert, Jonathan, their whole family, Bill, his family, I have unbreakable bonds with those people. I’ve been through it all with them.” 

Belichick: “I have great love, respect, and appreciation for all the people that have given so much to help the team. I tried to help it in my way, but we all play a part in it and we all need each other.” 

Kraft: “It’s an end of an era that I don’t think will ever be repeated, at least in my lifetime.”