This November is unlike any other for a New England Patriots team in the Bill Belichick era.
It's the first time since 2000 that the Patriots' playoff hopes have been all but dashed this early in the campaign. With a 2-7 record heading into Week 10, they would need to go undefeated to have a realistic shot at the postseason. They need seven wins just to finish over .500.
In other words, the rest of the 2023 season is about keeping things afloat. With Belichick's job security in question, there's a chance the Patriots' season reaches another new low with off-the-field drama. As our Tom E. Curran put it on Tuesday's Quick Slants, Belichick and owner Robert Kraft simply need to keep it together for another two months.
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"We're looking at eight weeks of going through the motions with what appears to be a lame-duck coach and a lame-duck quarterback," Curran said. "This is something the Patriots have never before experienced. Something ownership has never experienced. They are now mainlining what it's like to be irrelevant.
"And the question becomes, can they keep it together for two months? Could Bill Belichick, the greatest coach in NFL history -- and I stand on that -- make it to January when he knows the postseason is out of the question, and his unprecedented run is quite likely coming to an end? Does he become bitter? Resigned? Angry? Defensive? He is an older gentleman. We tend to speak our minds. Does Bill look at all the Lombardis and think to himself, 'None of those would be here if it wasn't for me, and now I'm just supposed to punch the clock?' Can he make it to the end without blowing a gasket?"
In March 2022, Kraft voiced his frustration with the Patriots going three consecutive years without a playoff victory. Assuming they're eliminated from contention again in 2023, that would make it five straight seasons without a playoff win and three missed postseason berths in the last five years.
Curran believes Kraft will have to put the recent failures aside and, if Belichick indeed exits, make it as amicable of a split as possible.
"Twenty-three years ago, he was the only guy who was gonna give Bill Belichick a chance," Curran said. "And then he gave him the keys, and then he left all the decisions to Bill, and now the car is in the ditch.
"Does Kraft look at the product and the results on the road back and blow his own gasket? Can these two men stop it from becoming a bitter and ugly split if that's what's in the offing? There's no guarantee, but I think we all hope that they can because this isn't the end. It's the end of something, but not everything."
For now, Belichick is on to Germany as the Patriots will take on the Indianapolis Colts next Sunday in Frankfurt.
