The natives are restless in New England.
The natives apparently have a very short memory. Not to mention having been spoiled to a level beyond perhaps any other fan base in sports history.
Yes, the Patriots are the worst team in the AFC East and possibly the entire AFC at the moment.
Yes, they’re coming off consecutive losses of 38-3 to Dallas and 34-0 to New Orleans, the two worst defeats of coach Bill Belichick’s career.
Yes, they appear to have gotten the quarterback wrong in the first round of the draft three years ago, with Mac Jones looking like he’s regressing.
And yes, the Patriots will miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season and third in the past four since Tom Brady parted ways with them.
Add all those things up, and you have what once felt like an unfathomable scenario: Patriots fans have had enough of Belichick.
Many want him out.
To date, the best thing to happen to Belichick and the Patriots this season is the fact that they’re on the road Sunday, playing the Raiders in Las Vegas.
If they lose, Belichick will have lost to Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels, his former offensive coordinator, and quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, whom he drafted to be the heir apparent to Brady. Bad optics.
A loss in Sin City to a mediocre Raiders with former Patriots manning the most important posts would be considered a mortal sin by New England fans, and the reception next Sunday when the Patriots take on the Bills at home could be ugly.
The bottom line with this uncomfortable situation is this: For what he has accomplished in his 24 years with the franchise — producing six Super Bowl titles, three Super Bowl runner-ups and 15 AFC East titles — Belichick should be able to coach in New England until whenever the hell he decides he doesn’t want to coach anymore.
If that’s not the case, then there’s no such thing as a “made man” in the NFL.
There have been reports — more likely speculation — that Patriots owner Robert Kraft is growing increasingly impatient and wouldn’t be averse to firing Belichick if it came to that.
Before Kraft pulls the trigger on that, he should take a hard look at where his franchise was before he poached Belichick from the Jets two-plus decades ago and what the success of the franchise has built for him — Patriot Place adjacent to Gillette Stadium and a dynasty on the football field, among many other things.
I get it that sports is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world, and lately it hasn’t looked very good in New England. I also get it that Belichick the general manager has never been as good as Belichick the X’s and O’s head coach.
And yes, he hasn’t been the same head coach without Tom Brady as his quarterback. He has a 219-64 regular-season record with Brady and is 80-92 without him.
Bill Parcells’ record as a head coach was inferior without Belichick as his defensive coordinator compared to when they were together. That doesn’t make Parcells any less of the Hall of Fame head coach he was.
This New England slide has been low-hanging fruit for the Belichick haters, those who have grown weary of his tired press-conference act. He’s an easy target to take shots at when things aren’t going well, and that’s understandable given the masses who’ve grown tired of his patented dismissal of perfectly legitimate questions from reporters.
That, however, should not detract from the historic coach he has been.
Former Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton was famously surly with the very reporters who eventually were tasked with voting or not voting him into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But Carlton was one of the best left-handers ever to pitch and, because of that, he got his due.
So, too, should Belichick from the very fans he has treated to more sustained winning than any other NFL fan base in the history of the sport.
