It’s time for Bill Belichick to hang up his hoodie, collect his six Super Bowl rings, and go home. For good.
It’s time for the head coach and general manager of the New England Patriots to retire.
And if he doesn’t by the end of this dismal season, owner Robert Kraft should thank him for the 9 Super Bowl games in 20 seasons, wish him all the best and terminate him.
Not so long ago the Patriots were the gold standard in professional sports. Now they are the worst team in the NFL. The responsibility for that fall rests with Belichick.
New England’s last two games were horror shows.
Never in his 24 seasons as head coach of the Patriots has a Belichick team performed so poorly as the current crew did in Dallas on Oct. 1 and at home last Sunday against New Orleans.
Cowboys 38, Patriots 3. Saints 34, Patriots 0. The worst shutout in franchise history.
Outscored 72-3.
The Patriots are trending down.
Like Joe Biden’s popularity, the Patriots are heading in the wrong direction. They are 1-4, their worst start since 2000, Belichick’s first in Foxborough. They are 26-30 since Tom Brady left town after the 2019 season. They had losing records and missed the playoffs in 2020 and 2022. In 2021 they lost a wild card playoff game to Buffalo, 47-17.
The offense is beyond bad.
The Patriots can’t run, pass, catch, or block. They are so bad that in the first half of the Saints game they produced 85 yards of total offense. Trailing 24-0, fourth and two at the New Orleans 40-yard line, Belichick punted because he doubted his team would convert.
The Pats are averaging 11 points per game and have not scored more than 20 in their five starts. They have not scored a touchdown in their last 34 possessions.
Mac “Pick Six” Jones is not the answer at quarterback.
After a promising rookie season in 2021, when he led the Patriots to a 10-7 record and the playoffs, Mac Jones has regressed steadily to the point that in the Dallas game, Belichick replaced him with backup Bailey Zappe. Belkichick benched Jones again in the New Orleans game.
This is not baseball, where relief pitchers replace starters every game. This is football, professional football, where the quarterback starts and finishes unless he is injured or stinks. The latter applies to Jones. His arm strength is suspect, he can’t run, and he is not making good decisions with the ball in his hands.
Sunday he was hit as he forced a throw in the first quarter, Tyrann Mathieu picked off the flutter ball and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown. In Dallas he threw a pick six and lost a fumble that turned into a scoop and score.
This season Jones has thrown five TD passes and six interceptions. He has thrown a half-dozen pick sixes in his two-plus seasons.
Jones is the only QB Belichick has drafted in the first round. He had to find a QB after Cam Newton failed miserably in 2020. Jones arrived after a record-smashing national championship season for 13-0 Alabama. It was his only season as a starter.
Belichick’s decision to turn the offense over to two defensive specialists, Joe Judge and Matt Patricia, in 2022, stunted Jones’s progress. The return of Bill O’Brien as offensive coordinator has not helped.
Bailey Zappe is not the answer at quarterback.
Yes, he stepped in for the injured Jones last year and won two games, but what has he done lately? Not much. He was so bad in training camp that Belichick cut him, signed him to the practice squad and then activated him on Sept. 9. He is 7-18 for 79 yards in his two mop-up appearances.
Belichick has stayed too long.
The Patriots coach, 71 and winner of 330 games overall, is a student of football history — but has failed to learn from that history.
Tom Landry won 270 games and two Super Bowls in 29 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, but finished with three consecutive losing seasons. His 3-13 record in 1988 was the worst in pro football. Jerry Jones fired him a day after buying the Cowboys. Landry was 64.
Chuck Noll won four Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s, but had four losing seasons and one playoff appearance in his last seven and retired in 1991 with 209 victories. He was 59.
Don Shula won 347 games with the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins but missed the playoffs in six of his last 10 seasons. He retired in 1995 after a wildcard playoff loss to the Bills. He was 65.
Landry, Noll and Shula are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Belichick will join them one day, but he can do little to burnish his legacy. He can only tarnish it, which is why he should step away.
Farewell to four notable sports figures.
Tim Wakefield was a giant on the mound for the Red Sox and an even bigger giant in the community. His knuckleball stymied hitters in the American League for 17 years and let him pitch in the big leagues until he was 45. He was a key to Boston’s World Series championship teams in 2004 and 2007. Off the field he helped raise millions for various charities. He died Oct. 1 of brain cancer. He was 57.
Dick Butkus defined what it was to be a middle linebacker in the 1960s. A ferocious hitter and tackler for the Chicago Bears, he made opposing blockers and ball carriers tremble. When I think of linebackers of that era, I think of Butkus, Ray Nitschke of the Packers, and Sam Huff of the Giants. Butkus turned to acting after his football career. He died Oct. 5 in his sleep. He was 80.
Brooks Robinson defined third base during his Hall of Fame career with the Baltimore Orioles. Few ground balls, however hard they were hit, got by him. He was a stalwart on the great Orioles teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s, American League MVP in 1964 and World Series MVP in 1970. Eighteen times an All-Star and 16 times a Gold Glove Award winner, Brooks Robinson was also a good guy. He auctioned many items from his career and raised $1.4 million for his family foundation. He died at home of heart disease Sept. 23 at the age of 86.
Russ Francis defined tight end for the New England Patriots long before Rob Gronkowski arrived in Foxboro. The charismatic Francis was the 16th pick in the 1975 NFL draft. He and quarterback Steve Grogan played together for five years. Francis retired for two years after a dispute with the Patriots and tried professional wrestling. He logged five seasons with the 49ers and won a Super Bowl. He closed his career with the Patriots in 1988. Francis died Oct. 1 when the single-engine plane he was piloting crashed at Lake Placid, N.Y., shortly after takeoff. He was 70.
Mike Szostak can be reached at mszostak@thepublicsradio.com.
