The Patriots’ struggles in the post Tom-Brady era have become one of the NFL’s biggest topics of discussion through the first five weeks of the 2023 season.
In a two-week span, New England coach Bill Belichick has witnessed the franchise register its largest blowout in his Patriots’ tenure as well the team’s worst shutout at Gillette Stadium in franchise history. For nearly two and half decades, Belichick has built a reputation for winning Super Bowls and establishing a first-class organization with the help of brilliant assistants and superior leadership.
However, Belichick has a .465 winning percentage in the post-Brady years. which includes this season’s 1–4 start. Although Belichick is considered an icon within the organization, Patriots owner Robert Kraft is not pleased with New England’s dumpster fire. In fact, Kraft has grown “frustrated, if not downright angry” with the Patriots’ lack of success, according to Jeff Howe of The Athletic.
Howe also writes that Kraft “doesn’t subscribe” to the idea that Belichick has earned the right to decide when he will step aside.
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In recent years, Kraft has been very outspoken about his complaints regarding the franchise’s inability to notch a postseason win after Brady’s departure. Kraft, who hired Belichick to lead the franchise in ’00, has long been an advocate for the Patriots’ coach.
However, with the Patriots’ fiasco from the ’22 campaign spilling over through the first quarter of this season, Belichick is no longer automatically safe in retaining his job in New England.
