The Patriots slip further and further into the no man’s land of the NFL. Meanwhile, head coach Bill Belichick is probably no longer untouchable.

The New England Patriots are in a deep crisis. For the first time since 1995, the franchise started the season with a 1-5 record.

While quarterback Mac Jones, in particular, has come under heavy criticism and his future continues to appear unclear, the air is also apparently getting thinner for head coach Bill Belichick.

“Those discussions have already taken place. I can tell you for a fact that Robert hears the criticism. He hears the anger on the ground and the people in the team facilities know for a fact that he hears the anger from the fan base,” reporter Albert Breer of “Sports Illustrated” pointed out on the radio talk show “The Herd with Colin Cowherd.”

According to the report, discussions about the 71-year-old’s future have been going on for a while. “I think we’re at the point now where it’s simply a matter of firing him,” Breer clarified.

Bill Belichick is increasingly sawing away at his legacy

Belichick earns $20 million a year, according to Sportico, making him the highest-paid coach in the NFL.

The 2023 season will be his 24th as head coach of the New England Patriots. No coach has previously succeeded in winning six Super Bowl titles in NFL history.

Over the past few years, however, Belichick has increasingly tarnished his unparalleled career and legacy with questionable personnel decisions and his reluctance to relinquish responsibility within the franchise, leaving himself vulnerable.

The post-star quarterback Tom Brady era, which began in 2020, has been anything but rosy. More and more critics feel the Pats’ progressive decline confirmed that Belichick could only be so successful over the years because of Brady, and by now there would be no question about which of the two had been the more important to the Patriots dynasty.

For many Patriots fans, the stark contrast between Belichick’s difficulties in rebuilding the Patriots and Tom Brady’s Super Bowl victory with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers immediately in the first year after his departure was also a clear indication of this thesis.