Lame Duck?! New England Patriots Insider: 'Decision Made' to Part Ways with Bill Belichick

According to a new NBC Sports Boston report, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has already made the decision to part ways with legendary coach Bill Belichick after this disastrous season.

In the future, Bill Belichick will be a Hall-of-Fame coach. But for the next month, will he be reduced to a lame-duck coach?

In an interview on NBC Sports Boston this week, Patriots insider Tom Curran says the "decision" by owner Robert Kraft to part ways with Belichick after the season has already been made and that the team will have a new head coach in 2024.

“When they came out of Germany, conversations I had that week made it very clear that a decision was made," Curran says. "They were going to play out the string, and at the end of the year there would be a parting of the ways, for a variety of reasons.”

The Nov. 12 game in Frankfurt was important to Kraft, who worked for years to have his team play on the international stage. But the Patriots embarrassingly flopped in falling to 2-8, failing to score a touchdown in a 10-6 loss to the Colts in which starting quarterback Mac Jones was benched in favor of backup Bailey Zappe for the game's final possession.

A Patriots insider says the end in Foxboro is inevitable for future Hall-of-Fame coach Bill Belichick / USA Today

They suffered two more humiliating performances - including a home shutout to the Chargers - before upsetting the Steelers on national television last Thursday night. In the process of a disastrous season, New England suffered the indignity of being kicked off Monday Night Football. That game against the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs will instead be played Sunday afternoon in Foxboro.

ESPN's Pat McAfee cornered Kraft on College GameDay last weekend before the Army-Navy game, but the owner wiggled free without giving a firm answer about Belichick's future.

Curran notes that Belichick's secret offseason contract extension wouldn't affect Kraft's ultimate decision to part with the man who led the franchise to a record six Super Bowls.

“[Belichick's] under contract for another year ... it’s only through next year," he explained. "So that would not be an impediment to them changing course, and it had gone too far.”

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With Belichick under contract through 2024, a team desiring his services would have to compensate the Patriots via trade. That explains why Kraft hasn't pulled the plug on Belichick during the worst season of his legendary career.

With Tom Brady, Belichick went 249-75 with 17 division titles and the six titles. Without his quarterback, the coach in nine seasons is 83-100 with only one playoff win. Since Brady left the Patriots after the 2019 season, they are 28-36 with a 30-point loss in their only playoff game.

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