The New England Patriots are no longer the team to beat in the NFL.
Truth be told, they’re not even a contender in their own division, and that’s becoming a worrisome trend.
One doesn’t have to be a football savant to realize that losing Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, and many other franchise stalwarts would take a big toll on their ability to compete.
They never renewed the team, while the rest of the league got better, slowly but steadily.
That’s why NFL analyst Charles Robinson believes this could be the end of the Belichick era at Foxboro.
In his latest column, he stated that the Patriots hadn’t felt this far from actual contention since last season, pretty much stating that Belichick has lost his groove (via Yahoo Sports).
Are we nearing the end of the Bill Belichick era in New England? pic.twitter.com/xxwlfJKNqE
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) October 4, 2023
Belichick is one regular-season win away from 300 and 17 from Don Shula’s all-time record, and that has been a major talking point for quite a while now.
Team owner Robert Kraft has talked about it multiple times, and it doesn’t seem like Belichick’s job is safe.
He would love to see Belichick break Shula’s record as a Patriot, but he’s not going to wait around and sit through six-win seasons for that to happen.
Pretty much, Belichick must right the ship now, or he’ll have to find another franchise to make history with.
Ironically, this is just the way Belichick has handled things since he took over the team.
It’s not about one person, and everybody, including him, can be replaced if they’re not getting the job done.
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