In Bill We No Longer Trust...

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For close to twenty years, the New England Patriots fielded elite teams, and despite having Tom Brady under center, a lot of games were won on the backs of Bill Belichick’s strong defenses.

Brady racked up points against weaker teams. Came from behind against tougher teams. But wins against the better teams required perfection on both sides of the ball, and the Patriots had well-balanced teams that could dominate from either side.

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Belichick’s defenses were more than capable of creating game-changing turnovers and making big stops, putting the ball back in Brady’s hands and giving him his best chance to win games. More often than not, with the ball in his hands late in games, Brady was successful.

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During those dominant years, Belichick had great coordinators and a phenomenal offensive line coach in Dante Scarnecchia, who spent 34 years in the Patriots' organization. Belichick had an elite coaching staff working alongside him, and that made a big difference.

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To say the success in New England was “all Brady” would be inaccurate. In their glory years, the Patriots played well on both sides of the ball and were well-coached and well-disciplined teams that minimized their mistakes. They were great on special teams and always had an exceptional kicking game. Most, if not all of that, is gone now, traded away or let go by Bill Belichick, the GM. His questionable personnel moves have cost the team, which has been less than competitive in a majority of games in 2023.

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In the post-Brady years, the Patriots have struggled offensively, unable to put up enough points to win even close, low-scoring games. Because of the offense’s inability to consistently move the chains, the defense has spent a lot of time on the field, and a tired defense becomes vulnerable in critical situations late in games. That’s on the head coach and the GM, both Bill Belichick.

Belichick has failed to evolve and stuck to his old playbook, and with his current personnel, he’s been unable to repeat the success that made him one of the greatest coaches in the NFL. It’s been painful to watch…

Over his storied career, Belichick has been one of the best at calling defenses, but his offenses post-Brady have fallen short. No longer trusting in Bill, Kraft has little choice other than to move on from Belichick the GM, and Belichick the head coach.

With four games left in the Patriot's 2023 season, Belichick is on pace to set an NFL record for most losses by a head coach in the regular season. He's currently sitting at 162, and the record for most losses is currently 165, held and shared by Dan Reeves and Jeff Fisher. Belichick's 301 regular season wins put him in third place behind George Halas (318) and Don Shula (328).

Certainly, no one can expect a new head coach and GM to turn the Patriots around on a dime, but after witnessing this once great franchise’s plunge to the bottom, just moving in the right direction and being competitive would be a welcome improvement for most fans, especially season ticket holders…

I’m just hoping whoever becomes the next head coach in New England, isn’t gonna make his post-game pressers a show about nothing…