Bill Belichick has basically burned the bridge back to the NFL

"You can't fire me. I quit."

It's a line that pops up in movies and sitcoms from time to time. It's a fitting way to describe Bill Belichick's attitude toward the NFL.

Unwanted by pro football, Belichick has spun it as if he no longer wanted pro football.

That's the clear message of a new article from Seth Wickersham of ESPN.com, whose report cites one unnamed Belichick confidant as saying Belichick is "disgusted" by what the NFL has become.

"This is a big fuck you to the NFL," another Belichick confidant told Wickersham.

Right, but the NFL said it first. He went 0-for-7 last year in finding another NFL job, after being fired by the Patriots. He got one interview, with the Falcons. No offers.

This year, the phone wasn't ringing from the NFL. The NFL didn't want him. So he doesn't want the NFL.

In making that clear, he makes it even more likely that the NFL will never want him again. Especially since, in the next hiring cycle, he'll be on the verge of turning 74.