Bill Belichick is gone as the Patriots head coach, meaning that the Patriots are left rudderless, but they may have a destination in sight.
FOXBORO, Mass.– The quiet spoken Bill Belichick walked into the room sporting a light blue suit jacket, cross-hatched with brown squares. Accompanying him is Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a man who has always seemed to be behind Belichick when times were good and when times were bad. The two stepped up the podium, seemingly lightheartedly with a small smirk and the ever so littlest hints of a smile.
“Haven’t seen this many cameras since we signed [Tim] Tebow”, Belichick joked. If you were closed off from anything football, locked behind an NFL wall for the last week, you’d have thought the Patriots were onto something bright, unbeknownst to the somber undertones in the room. Despite Belichick’s far cry from his usual mysterious self, the future was cut clear– he would not be a part of the New England Patriots anymore.
The man who had led them to six Super Bowls over his career in New England has been ousted and exiled from the team he called home for 24 seasons. It wasn’t out of the blue, it wasn’t a grass is greener situation, it was just sad. The Patriots had been on a losing skid for over three seasons now, and even if you’re one of the greatest coaches of all time, the old NFL adage stands true, it stands for Not For Long.
New England had built a modern day dynasty under Belichick, racking up 266 wins over his 23 year tenure with the team. His pairing with possibly the greatest quarterback of all time in Tom Brady made the Patriots a team to be reckoned with, but after the QB left to Tampa in 2020, the Patriots were left without a starting quarterback and thus began a rapid downfall. The team decided that they were ultimately going to go in a separate direction, leading to what the organization called “parting ways”.
Since 2020, the team has not been able to replicate the success it had with both pieces of the QB-HC relationship. The Patriots drafted Mac Jones out of Alabama after Brady left, but he has yet to prove himself as the bona fide starter, having been benched multiple times since his rookie year. From the Covid year, the Patriots have only managed to win 29 games over four seasons, reaching the playoffs only once off the back of a formidable defense. The Patriots have been plagued with offensive issues and execution, leading to the outing of Belichick, who also served as the team’s general manager.
While the first couple of years without Brady didn’t seem like the end of the world, it was apparent after losing their first five out of six games in 2023 that the Patriots’ fortunes weren’t improving nor was the team on the right trajectory. While it seemed apparent that the Patriots needed a seismic shift, Belichick leaving wasn’t even in the question until later in the season where the offense and defense both collapsed.
READ MORE: Though Hard to Swallow, the Bill Belichick and Mac Jones Era Needs to End for the Patriots
Now the Patriots are left rudderless and three sails to the win as the team desperately tries to redefine themselves in a post-Belichick era. It’s clear that Kraft will attempt to clear house, leaving only essentials in his wake. That means the roster will see a clear refresh than what it started out as, with an emphasis on offense. The team never truly prepared for the exit of the two legends. Usually when an organization has a living legend as a quarterback, the front office will attempt to plan for the future. Similar to what Brady did under Bledsoe back in 2001, and what the Packers have done with Jordan Love.
There always has to be an escape plan, that’s something the Patriots never truly figured out. After Tom Brady’s departure for whatever reason– we may never know the justification behind the move, the Patriots tried to get a segue quarterback in Cam Newton. That experiment didn’t stand a chance with the test of time as the skunkworks project was killed before it could even reach a season.
Jerod Mayo To Be Hired As Next Head Coach
Various news outlets have announced that Jerod Mayo, a player under Belichick and the inside linebackers coach since 2019, would be hired as the team’s next head coach. It was written into his contract that he would succeed Belichick when the time came, and was his position to lose. Mayo spent his entire eight-year NFL career with the Patriots under Belichick and was one of the team’s top defensive players throughout his time in New England.
The Patriots speed tracked the hiring process by having a succession plan in place, in which Mayo was predetermined to step up once Belichick left. That means they don’t have to go abide by the NFL’s mandated Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview two minority coaches for an open head coaching job.
Mayo has always expressed interest in becoming a head coach, and was handpicked by Belichick to join the staff once the 2010 First-Team All-Pro retired in 2015.
“Hopefully, as you guys all know, one day I want to be a head coach,” Mayo said, via CBS News Boston. “Where that is, I don’t know. But at the same time, I would say I have a lot of love for New England. I have a lot of love for the fans, the people around the building. And you know, my family, they love it here as well. So that would be great if I could stay here and continue to progress throughout my career, but we’ll see.”
The hiring shows that the Patriots are headed in a new direction, presumably trying to get out of purgatory. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, the decision to let go of Belichick had to be made, and new wheels had to be screwed on in order for the Patriots to once again establish dominance in the AFC East.
