I'm Pre-Sad About The Belichick Remors

Talk is cheap. Especially in sports media. Stories are made up and/or fabricated more often than the wind blows in Chicago. So for my own sake, I hope the story of Belichick leaving after the season already being a done deal isn't true.

But what if it is?

I'd be sad. I'm sad thinking about it potentially being the end. I'm sad that Belichick replacement articles are no longer beyond the realm of comprehension. I'm sad that it may be the true end of my football life to date.

It was weird when Brady left. But it felt like it was time. We all knew he had a little more left in the tank, but for someone who had given absolutely everything he could to a franchise and region, it felt fair to let him spread his wings and fly away to Florida like the rest of New England as they near retirement. It was sad, but digestible.

Belichick leaving I honestly never thought would happen. I mean, I knew it would happen at some point, but I figured that point would be calling the defense from a hospital bed while he's connected to oxygen and overflowing his catheter.

But four years later? No, I couldn't have imagined that. And if you poll Patriots fans, 100% of them wouldn't have imagined it either.

If you take the twenty-year dynasty out of it (sure) and look at the job that's been done since Brady left, you can make a sound argument that they should look for a new head coach. If you consider that he's also the GM and Head of Player Personnel, the argument becomes nearly undebatable.

Terrible personnel decisions, from the draft to free agent signings, consistently butchering offensive talent scouting, and dementia-like staffing decisions, all which collectively mentally destroyed the first-round heir-apparent hopeful QB are the standouts. Nearly everything from 2020-2023, which all wholly lie on the shoulders of Bill, hasn't worked. I get that. And this season has been the culmination of many bad decisions over these last few years collapsing on their head, and for that, again, I understand.

But can you really take the twenty years prior and discount them this quickly? Sure the Patriots haven't been contending for Super Bowls since Brady's departure, but outside of this season they've remained a formidable squad despite terrible personnel and (2022 in particular) terrible coaching.

8-9, 10-7, 8-9, and a playoff appearance. Those are the three years that followed Tom's migration to Florida. You know how many teams and fanbases that would kill for that?

What's hard for me to get past is that Bill can clearly still coach. I'll argue til the cows come home with anyone who disagrees. Take the last four games of this season, where the defense is playing without its two best players and other key pieces, and gave up 10 or less points in three straight games, and 18 in the other.

Add in the fact that we've essentially been eliminated from the playoffs since late October, and the performance heightens in impressiveness.

Lots of coaches lose locker rooms when they stink. I don't blame them, I can imagine it's incredibly hard not to. But Bill still has these guys playing hard.

And they're playing for him. How many guys after the Steelers win mentioned how they were so happy for Bill to get this win, how they hate the hate that's being spewed his way, and that he's not the one on the field making the mistakes.

That happens sometimes but not often, and I think that says a lot. This dude still can coach. Don't tell me he can't.

Bill the General Manager is where the questions lie. For years, Bill the coach has been publicly scrutinized due to Bill the GM.

His personnel decisions could constitute malpractice in a Massachusetts court of law. I won't lament every bad decision, but the Matt Patricia / Joe Judge co-hire last season is one that still keeps me up at night. The Jonnu Smith "splash free agent" signing, trading a second-round pick for over-the-hill Mohammed Sanu, and choosing JuJu over Jacobi Meyers are a few others that quickly come to mind. And trust me, there are others.

I don't think he'll be asked to be the GM of this team moving forward. And I think this, if this rumor holds true, is where it all begins and ends.

I don't imagine that conversation going swimmingly. That Bill would happily turn over the reigns to his roster and continue coaching. If I were to guess, it's all or nothing for him.

And I don't blame him if that's the case. If he wants to continue coaching and GM'ing, there's multiple handfuls of teams that would gladly extend a hand. But I don't think it's in New England.

What I'm nervous about is if that's not the case. If Kraft has decided to move on without discussing the options.

I fear that RKK still has Super Bowl fever, and instead of pulling in some of the long rope leash Bill has earned over the years, he's cutting it off after five years of not making it. "That's not what we expect in New England" is an understandable stance. I want my owner to expect a lot. That's the sign of a great owner. But the NFL is impossibly hard, and what we got accustomed to will likely never be duplicated in the history of the game.

I'm nervous a firing would set a bad precedent. Is one horrible and two mediocre seasons all it takes for a six-time champion, 20+ year tenured head coach to be canned? He doesn't have more leeway than that? That feels like a slippery slope to start going down.

What if a new coach comes in and goes 6-11 his first two seasons? We fire him too? And become a coaching carousel franchise like other losers around the league?

For the record, I have faith in the Kraft's that this would not be the case, but I'm allowed to worry. It is a possibility.

My head's swirling if you can't tell. Part of me wants to leave Bill in charge and give him one more chance with a top three pick and ample cap money. I feel like he's earned one more chance. He's too smart to not realize the mistakes he's made and that he needs to change.

Part of me thinks that parting ways and a hard reset might be a necessary step in the dynasty recovery process.

But the biggest part of me is sad about him not being on the sideline anymore. Having to listen to a coach actually answer questions at the post-game presser instead of giving the media toddler type attitude. And having the last piece of the historic run I grew up on poof into dust.

I always thought Bill would remain with the Patriots until he chose not to. And hey, that may be the case. I just didn't think it would happen this fast.

I hope the rumors aren't true.

Bring me back to 2011.