Time To Go: Three Reasons Why Patriots Should Fire Bill Belichick

It’s hard to imagine the New England Patriots would ever reach the point where head coach Bill Belichick’s job security would be up for question, but now 10 games into the 2023 season, it’s clear: time to pull the plug.

Belichick, the once-undeniable mastermind behind New England’s two-decade-long dynasty which produced six Super Bowl titles, has since become the face of the NFL’s biggest misunderstanding. It wasn’t any “system” or “Patriot Way” that served as the foundation for making the Patriots a powerhouse for as long as it did.

It was Tom Brady. Plain and simple.

The Patriots have miserably failed at navigating the breakup while Brady took his talents to Tampa Bay, won Super Bowl LV with the Buccaneers and began exposing New England. Belichick and company took it from there, sinking the Patriots to a now laughingstock that each way finds a way to stoop even lower as one of the league’s strongest tank candidates.

At 2-8, the only place left to turn is the NFL Draft, however, considering how the past few years have unfolded does Belichick even deserve a chance to rectify reducing New England to an embarrassment? No.

With plenty to choose from, here are three key reasons why New England should show Belichick the door at the end of the season:

The continuous regression of quarterback Mac Jones
Has Mac Jones proven to be worthy of a starting job in New England? No.

But make no mistake about it, that’s not all on the 25-year-old.

Belichick has failed Jones at every turn. New England’s offensive line, and constant shuffling of a coaching staff, which spawns from Belichick hiring his buddies who also fail every else they flee to in search of an underserved promotion, both put Jones in a tough spot. This isn’t intramural flag football and there aren’t many quarterbacks across the league capable of sustaining that insane mental test.

Is that really fair? No.

Now granted, Jones hasn’t helped his case either. He’s thrown 10 interceptions, most of them falling under the inexcusable category, which is one shy of the NFL lead and is constantly resembling a mentally defeated quarterback incapable of leading an offense.

Julian Blackmon intercepts Mac Jones at the goal line!

📺: #INDvsNE on NFL Network
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/d4RDZpceuE pic.twitter.com/K0AHBzjFwM

— NFL (@NFL) November 12, 2023

“I think everyone’s frustrated,” Jones said Tuesday on WEEI’s Jones and Mego Show. “There are a lot of things I wish I could do better.”

Jones has averaged 203.1 yards per game while having thrown 10 touchdowns and interceptions, making career-worst marks in each statistical category. That’s quite the drop-off from Jones’ encouraging rookie season in 2021, therefore, chalking it up to the Alabama product just failing alone, is lazy and disingenuous.

Extending a putrid job as head coach to New England’s front office
What’s the case to even leave Belichick on board?

Aside from everything Belichick’s done with the luxury of leaning on Brady, there isn’t much of a case left. The Cam Newton experiment was a failure that again, was an attempt at Belichick boosting his legacy and having the convenience of Newton’s track record to blame if things went wrong — as unfolded.

When Brady was in New England, putting Belichick’s just good enough offensive core (at times) in position to succeed, the motto was the Patriots don’t spend. They do the hard work and find the underappreciated talents and find them a place within the now-nonexistent “system.”

Yet, before the Patriots could undergo their first year of breakup from Brady, Belichick elected to go Steve Cohen and spent $159.6 million in guaranteed contracts on a 2021 roster transformation. At the time, that set an NFL record, according to ESPN Stats & Info, and translated into nothing.

New England finished 10-7 and got humiliated in the Wild-Card round by the Buffalo Bills, leaving Newton to take the fall as Belichick’s lone scapegoat.

Meanwhile, Belichick’s stubborn ways of refusing to reward players who develop and flourish with the Patriots remained and haunted the organization just three years later.

Instead of rewarding now-Raiders wideout Jakobi Meyers for growing into New England’s No. 1 target, Belichick punted on a contract extension. Long story short, Meyers left for Las Vegas on a three-year deal, the Patriots signed a washed-up JuJu Smith-Schuster and New England is left swallowing its biggest offseason blunder amid a dumpsterfire year.

Everything the team claimed they were has since been debunked through self-inflicted harm and neverending arrogance.

Soiling the Patriots brand, jeopardizing the ability to move forward
As 2023 continues to unfold into the biggest dud during Belichick’s time with the Patriots, how exactly does New England move forward?

From the perspective of free agents, what’s the draw? Why sign with a team that’s got no direction, doesn’t reward its homegrown talents and is failing to play catchup with the rest of the league because its unearned feeling of importance? The Patriots were a once-feared organization that prided itself on doing things by the book and leading by example.

That was the past.

Belichick is nothing to fear and while he’s reached his arm out for a savior, there’s nobody in New England to play Brady’s former role.

Josh McDaniels, an extension of the Patriots, made a fool of himself in Las Vegas, confusing his level of importance in New England. Being a Belichick assistant and Brady’s beneficiary doesn’t translate into head coaching success.

New England’s now left in desperation mode.

Even if the Patriots do land a favorable draft position, what does the rest of the plan consist of? Free agency? The trade market? The roster isn’t good enough and the coaching staff on a week-by-week basis is even more incompetent in doing its part to put the team in a position to win games.

That starts with Belichick.