Belichick made history, but will he be history?
a contract that pays him around $25 million annually, but reports also claim he’s had no discussions with owner Bob Kraft regarding his future. The two are scheduled to meet Monday, a session that is expected to include Kraft’s combustible/fortunate son, Jonathan (Wonder if the Krafts will bring their high chairs to the meeting to remind Bill who’s boss?)
“It was a disappointing year for all of us,’’ a head-cold-plagued Belichick said after the loss. “. . . As far as the future goes, I’ll sit down with Robert as I do every year at some point at the end of the season. We’ll talk about things as we always do. But that’s all I have to say about that.’’
Swell. But this year we are not expecting the principals to emerge from their Route 1 Yalta summit singing Kumbaya and stating, “We’re on to the 2024 season.’’
Kraft is dissatisfied with his team’s 29-38 record (no playoff victories) in the four seasons since Tom Brady left and has pledged improvement to fans. Last year’s 8-9 record prompted a Kraft letter of apology to fans, but the 202324 Pats sunk to 4-13, the worst record in Belichick’s 24 seasons on the Patriot sideline.
There’s something distinctly Churchillian about Belichick’s demise here in New England. Winston Churchill, Britain’s legendary prime minister, reached unprecedented approval ratings near the end of World War II, only to subsequently endure a humiliating election defeat and submit his resignation to the king in the summer of 1945. Churchill was just a few months shy of 71.
Here in Fort Foxborough, 71-year-old Belichick’s been the Churchill of Patriot Nation, never surrendering, and delivering a succession of finest hours, each more satisfying than the one before. Bill’s “No Days Off ’’ was New England sports’ “Never Give In.’’
Traditional trimmings were in place on the day that might go down as Belichick’s last one in New England. We had the Jets in town, the same Jets that Belichick was supposed to coach when he broke his contract in the winter of the 1999-2000 season. The Jets were also the team that made room for Tom Brady when linebacker Mo Lewis blasted Drew Bledsoe with a perfectly legal sideline hit in Week 2 of the Patriots first Super Bowl-winning season (2001-02).
We had snow falling — just like we did the night the Patriot dynasty was launched when Walt Coleman ruled a non-fumble on a Brady drop that would have bounced New England from the playoffs. The Tuck Rule Game, a snowy Saturday night playoff win against the Raiders in January ’02, was the last game ever played at old Foxboro Stadium.
When the Pats next played in Foxborough in September ’02, they were raising a Super Bowl championship banner in spanking-new Gillette Stadium and Belichick was on his way to eight more Super Bowls, five more Lombardi trophies, 16 more division flags, and 12 more AFC Championship games.
There didn’t seem to be a lot of brotherly love between Kraft and Belichick on the sideline during Sunday’s warm-ups. Kraft seemed to be making a point to shake the hands of all of his players, but got nowhere near his coach. Of course, we don’t know if they actually interacted behind the scenes. For all we know, the owner and the coach before kickoff had coffee together with Jimmy “Hotfingers” McNally in the room where the footballs are stored.
Once the game started, Belichick spent his solo sideline time scowling, squinting, and barking into his headset. Hands in pockets. No gloves.
We certainly got the Stupor Bowl/rock fight we deserved. The Patriots had two first downs in the first half, six for the game. They went 1 for 14 on third down and amassed a puny 119 yards of offense. The Jets snapped a 15-game losing streak against Belichick, winning against New England for the first time since December 2015. It’ll be hard to forget the sight of the Jets doing snow angels in the Gillette end zone. The Patriots finished 1-7 at Gillette.
Trailing, 17-3, with less than a minute to play, Bill was still coaching. After Bailey Zappe was sacked, setting up a Patriots’ second and 18 from their 34, Bill called time with 50 seconds remaining.
When it ended, Belichick — bundled in winter garb from head to toe — walked onto the field, briefly embraced Jets coach Robert Saleh and injured quarterback Aaron Rodgers, then pivoted toward the Patriot locker room. The Darth Vader/Michael Jackson cover made him look completely anonymous.
In that moment, he was the loneliest man in the stadium.
Asked if he had different feelings while coming off the field after this one, Belichick answered, “Disappointed the way the game turned out, sure. Leave it at that.’’
When we followed with, “Do you expect to be coaching the team here next year?’’ Belichick answered, “Disappointed with the way the game finished.
‘’ . . . I enjoy coaching,’’ he added at the end of his minimalist (five-minute) press conference. “It’s a disappointing season. I covered that in the opening statement. I don’t have anything to add. That’s how I feel. Still. I like coaching the team, coaching on Sundays, but the results weren’t good and I wasn’t happy with those.’’
There you go. Some sad words after a historically bad season.