Where exactly did it all go wrong? What lead to the New England Patriots competing in their first Wild Card Weekend in a decade and ultimately falling to the 6th seeded Titans? Well, there’s the obvious issues of a second-string offensive line, rookie receivers, an injured Edelman, and a question mark surrounding Sanu. But looking beyond the obvious, there was something about this entire season that didn’t feel quite right.
The season started with such promise, it seemed like the Pats were a shoe-in for another Super Bowl appearance, and Brady’s 7th ring. But then, things started to spiral, and somewhat quickly. The Kraft ‘scandal’ out of Florida broke, Tom Brady decided he wanted to be a free agent at the end of the year and moved to Connecticut, the Antonio Brown debacle arrived and seemingly never left, the kicking fiasco, the “Spygate 2” nonsense, and while all of that was going on, the massive question mark surrounding the future of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick loomed over Foxboro. In every sense of the word, it seemed like this season was the most “un-Patriot” season of them all: scandals, a struggling Tom Brady, bad kicking, and a first round exit.
So where do we go from here? We let the dust settle, we let the internet and the rest of the country rejoice in not having to witness another Patriots team in the Super Bowl, and we accept the outcome of any coaching or personnel changes.
Tom Brady has repeatedly talked about wanting to play until the age of 45, so we’ll see if he sticks to that. Whether that be in a Patriots uniform or not is a whole different article, but I will say he has every right to choose to leave if he feels that’s what’s best.
Then, there’s Josh McDaniels who has several interviews scheduled for a head coaching job, and I think that’s not the worst thing in the world for both him and the Patriots. I believe that this season was an example of McDaniels hitting a wall and exhausting all of his final resources with Brady, Belichick, and the Patriots. There are definitely teams in this league that could use a mind like Josh McDaniels’, and I think McDaniels has earned his way to a head coaching position.
All eyes are on this offseason, and it should be very, very interesting.

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