Bill Belichick and his New England Patriots find themselves at 1-4 and going nowhere fast heading into Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
New England ranks dead last in the NFL in scoring at 11.0 points per game. It has been outscored by a margin of 79-3 over the past two outings. Heck, the Pats are being outscored by north of two touchdowns per outing on the season.
Even heading into the season, there were some reports that the six-time Super Bowl champion might not have job security beyond 2023.
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We’re now hearing more on this, and it’s eye-opening. New England owner Robert Kraft could very well be on the verge of moving on from Belichick altogether.
“There’s a school of thought that suggests Bill Belichick has earned the right to go out on his own accord, that the architect of the greatest dynasty in NFL history can coach in New England as long as he chooses. Kraft doesn’t subscribe to it.”
The Athletic’s Jeff Howe on Bill Belichick
While this may seem surprising in the grand scheme of things, Belichick’s lack of success since Tom Brady left the Patriots after the 2019 season has angered Kraft.
Prior to their ugly 34-0 home loss to the New Orleans Saints this past Sunday, reports suggested that Belichick’s future with the team might be short-lived.
New England finds itself with a 19-20 record since Brady’s departure. Belichick posted a 244-92 record with Brady on the team. You can do the math from there.
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Is Bill Belichick’s job really on the line with the New England Patriots?
One might figure that Kraft would be loyal to Belichick and give him an opportunity to break Don Shula’s career wins record with the Patriots.
But that’s too narrow of an approach. New England’s last two games and performance thus far this season reminds us of the bottom-feeding days of the early 1990s before Kraft took over as owner. Heck, it could be closer to the late 60s and early 70s when New England posted a 10-32 record over a three-year span.
The short of it is obvious. Patience is one thing. Holding on to what was once a good things is a completely different story.
Continued humiliation on the field moving forward this season could very well lead to Kraft pulling the plug altogether on the Bill Belichick era.