Bill Belichick, First Coach Fired? Bill Simmons Bemoans Patriots’ Mess

Patriots coach Bill Belichick is losing one of his biggest, highest-profile backers.

Not that Belichick cares, of course, but longtime Boston sports personality Bill Simmons has seen just about enough of his beloved Patriots nose dive. Following New England’s 34-0 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, Simmons is wondering whether Belichick will even survive the season.

For Simmons, it’s not just the 2023 season. He thinks the Patriots are nearing the end of the Belichick era not just because of losses like Sunday’s but because of how the team has performed since even before Tom Brady left.

“Remember all the dumb, sloppy (expletive) (last year)?” Simmons said on his podcast for The Ringer on Sunday night. “I think this is Year 5 dating back to Brady’s last season of ‘Man, this doesn’t seem like a Belichick team.’ We’ve been saying that for five years.

“He’s in his early 70s. I talked to a lot of people — I talked about this on my podcast Thursday — I think this is his last year as coach. I felt that way before the (New Orleans) game. At least as coach of the Patriots, I think this is it … I think (Jerod) Mayo is going to be the coach.”

Simmons then made a pretty bold claim about Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

“It’s time for a divorce,” Simmons said. “I guarantee you Kraft wants to bottom out this year and get a top-five pick. This is one of the best QB classes — probably one of the three best of the century. I was watching (USC quarterback) Caleb Williams last night (and) that guy is (expletive) amazing. You get that guy, you’re basically getting (Patrick) Mahomes. … He’s amazing. He’s an electric, electric football player.”

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The Patriots certainly are in the running to be the team with the No. 1 pick. That would have seemed unfathomable even before this season began. No one truly expected New England to contend for Super Bowl LVIII, but the general consensus was that Belichick was too good of a coach to let the Patriots tank.

That they’re seemingly trying to win games and failing to do so is a lowlight in Belichick’s career. Could it get bad enough that Kraft would make some sort of move in the middle of the season? It seems unfathomable, but people like Simmons are starting to wonder whether it might actually happen.

” … I think if you’re going first coach fired, is Belichick one of the three coaches now?” Simmons said. “I can’t believe I’m saying this. I feel like I’m going to get struck by lightning. But we’re just talking about 2023, this is the reality of the situation.”

Week 6 offers the Patriots their latest chance to show signs of life. They’ll head to the desert to take on the Las Vegas Raiders, a team that might be worse than the Patriots and will be playing on a short week after hosting the Packers on “Monday Night Football.”

This feels like a broken-record sentiment, but if the Patriots lay yet another egg in Vegas, Belichick’s ice could get even thinner, lightning strikes be damned.