Owner Robert Kraft 'Frustrated' With Bill Belichick, New England Patriots' Struggles?
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft always wants the best for his team, but he may soon have to make the hardest decision of his tenure soon.
The post-Tom Brady era has not been kind to the Patriots, as they've only made the playoffs once in the last three seasons and are starting down another year of no postseason. Over that time, longtime coach Bill Belichick, one of the architects of the Patriots' dynasty alongside Brady, has come under fire for the team's lack of results. After a miserable start to this season, the calls for the Patriots to move on from the legendary coach have been growing louder and louder.
While Kraft has stuck by Belichick for nearly a quarter of a century, the NFL is a "what have you done for me lately?" league, and by that metric, the results haven't been pretty. According to The Athletic, Kraft is not opposed to firing Belichick if the Patriots' continue to underperform.
Kraft meets with Belichick before a game.
"There’s a school of thought that suggests Bill Belichick has earned the right to go out on his own accord, that the architect of the greatest dynasty in NFL history can coach in New England as long as he chooses," The Athletic's Jeff Howe writes. "Kraft doesn’t subscribe to it."
Not long ago, firing Belichick seemed unthinkable. He is in his 24th season in New England, and led the team to six Super Bowls in a two-decade span. For any coach in the running for the greatest of all time, let alone the consensus favorite for such a title, such an ending seems impossible.
With how bad things have gotten, though, the possibility has to be considered. The Patriots haven't just sunk to nearly the bottom of the league standings, but the way they've lost has been incredibly humiliating. Their last two games, a 38-3 loss to the Dallas Cowboys and a 34-0 defeat against the New Orleans Saints, are the two worst results of Belichick's storied career.
"Now, they’re second to last in point differential (-76), turnover differential (-8) and in current possession of the fifth pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, an indication of how far they’ve got to climb if they’ve got any designs on being relevant this winter," Howe writes. "Based on their lack of execution in the first five games, there’s little evidence to suggest a marked turnaround is imminent.
"And Kraft has long since gotten sick of watching other teams’ highlights on his new scoreboard."
