According to an NFL reporter, the New England Patriots have held discussions about firing head coach Bill Belichick, one of the winningest NFL coaches in league history.
Belichick seems poised to take the record as the NFL’s winningest coach from coaching legend Don Shula, but he’ll have to keep his job to do that.
Currently, Shula’s record for most games won sits at 347. But Belichick is narrowing that gap and now sits at 330.
Still, even with total games won thus far eluding his grasp, he does hold the record for having won the most Super Bowl rings. No other coach has won the eight Super Bowls that Belichick has amassed.
Despite this record, the team is currently dissatisfied with Belichick’s slow 1-5 start to the season.
Speaking about the coach’s situation, Sports Illustrated NFL insider Albert Breer told Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports’ “The Herd” on Thursday that Belichick is feeling the pressure, the New York Post reported.
Head coach Bill Belichick and Mac Jones, #10 of the New England Patriots, talk on the field before a game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on September 11, 2022, in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
“These discussions have taken place, and I can tell you for sure, I mean, [Patriots owner] Robert [Kraft] hears the criticism,” Breer said of talks inside the Patriots to fire Belichick.
“He hears the anger locally, and people in the building know for a fact that he’s hearing the anger from the fan base, and he’s very cognizant of where his team is in the pecking order of NFL teams as well,” Breer added.
“They’re not a marquee team anymore,” Breer said, “and he took a lot of pride in them being a marquee team for two decades, right up there with teams like the Cowboys, like the Eagles, like the Giants had been traditionally. So I think there’s all of that that sort of plays into this.”
Breer added that he has heard that Kraft and team insiders have been talking about dumping Belichick since the past offseason.
Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, looks on before a game against the Indianapolis Colts at Gillette Stadium on November 06, 2022, in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Maddie Malhotra/Getty Images)
“So the discussions of where this goes post-Belichick have been underway for a while, and I think regardless of how this year went, I think there was going to be a discussion about the structure of the franchise and potentially changing the personnel department,” Breer told Cowherd.
Breer added that insiders are asking, “Do we bring in a general manager or promote someone to general manager and see if Bill wants to work with him?”
The sports reporter claimed that the front office is contemplating where to go from here if they want to fire Belichick outright and then what they do with defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Jerod Mayo.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston