Patriots have reportedly already decided to move on from Bill Belichick in 2024
The Patriots are 1 of 2 teams already eliminated from the NFL playoffs
Bill Belichick’s time with the New England Patriots is apparently coming to an end regardless of how the rest of the season plays out. The Patriots, according to NBC Sports Boston’s Tom Curran, have already decided to move on from the longtime coach after the end of the season.
That decision was apparently made after the Patriots fell to the Indianapolis Colts in Germany on Nov. 12.
“When they came out of Germany, conversations I had that week made it very clear that a decision was made,” Curran said Monday. “And they were going to play out the string, and at the end of the year there would be a parting of the ways, for a variety of reasons … You don’t fire Bill Belichick during the season. It’s just not going to happen.”
Belichick long ago solidified himself as one of the best head coaches in NFL history. He was first hired as head coach in New England in 2000 following a five-year head coaching stint in Cleveland and assistant jobs with both the Patriots and Jets, and he quickly turned the Patriots into one of the best dynasties the sport has ever seen. Alongside quarterback Tom Brady, Belichick led the Patriots to six Super Bowl wins and mounted an incredible 17-season run with double-digit victories. The team has missed the playoffs just five times under his watch, and made it to nine Super Bowls.
Since Brady, however, it’s been a very different story with the Patriots. The team has been to the playoffs just once since Brady left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020, falling in the wild-card round in the 2021 season. Brady’s replacement, Mac Jones, has struggled too. He has been benched multiple times this season in favor of Bailey Zappe.
The Patriots are 3-10 headed into Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs. New England is currently last in the AFC East. The Patriots have lost several bad blowout games this year — a 38-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, a 34-0 loss to the New Orleans Saints — and they’re one of two teams in the league already eliminated from the playoffs. Even if they were to win out, that would bring the team to just 7-10.
The bright side to this losing season for the Patriots is that they’re currently slated to receive the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft next spring. If Curran’s report comes to fruition, team owner Robert Kraft will have somebody else calling the shots in an effort to rebuild the Patriots’ dynasty.
