Bill Belichick has amassed quite the laundry list of accomplishments during his time leading the New England Patriots, but things have begun to sour in recent years.
Could the legendary coach’s tenure with the franchise end soon?
Struggles Mounting for Bill Belichick’s Patriots
Belichick has guided New England to unprecedented heights during his over two decades leading the franchise. His Patriots have won six Super Bowls across that span and made it to the game three other times as he and Tom Brady combined to form one of the most successful player-coach duos in NFL history.
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The Patriots have won 10 or more games in all but four of Belichick’s last 23 seasons leading them, but two of those instances have come in the last three years, and the franchise will again miss that threshold this season.
It’s been tough sledding for New England since Brady left after the 2019 season, going a combined 27-35 across the more than three-and-a-half campaigns since then.
Those struggles have come to a particular head in 2023, with the Patriots sitting at 2-10 ahead of their Thursday Night Football clash with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
They opened the year with a pair of close losses to the Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins before taking their first win over the New York Jets, presenting some early hope for the season. The defeats continued to mount, however, as New England has now lost five straight games and eight of its last nine contests overall.
It’s been particularly tough in recent weeks, with them becoming the first NFL team to lose three straight games while giving up 10 or fewer points since the Chicago Cardinals lost four such games in a row back in 1938, according to NFL Research.
New England fell to 10-6 to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 10 before taking its bye, then lost 10-7 to the New York Giants and 6-0 to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Will Belichick Leave the Patriots?
All of the Patriots’ mounting struggles this year, and even dating back to the last few post-Brady seasons, have led to plenty of rumors swirling around Belichick’s future with the franchise.
He certainly bought plenty of runway with New England’s long run of success as one of the league’s dominant forces over the last two decades, but that success has begun to dry up. The franchise’s owner, Robert Kraft, has reportedly been in discussions about whether to move on from Belichick after this season for months, NFL Insider Albert Breer said in an interview with Colin Cowherd back in October.
While it’s unclear at this point how serious those talks have been or whether the Patriots are or will be prepared to move on this offseason, there is certainly smoke around the whole situation.
New England’s utter ineptitude at times this fall could certainly push Kraft in that direction as the franchise continues falling from its status among the NFL’s elites.
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