FOXBOROUGH – It had been nearly an hour since the Patriots lost embarrassingly to the Los Angeles Chargers when Bill Belichick casually walked to the podium inside Gillette Stadium.
In the past three games, the Patriots have now lost by scores of 10-6, 10-7, and 6-0. That made Belichick’s squad the first team since 1938 to lose three consecutive contests in the same season when allowing 10 or fewer points. This feat was last accomplished 85 years ago by the Chicago Cardinals.
In his postgame press conference, Belichick had fewer answers than his offensive unit, which was shutout for the second time this season.
How does he explain what’s continuously gone wrong for his offense? The Patriots coach wouldn’t say, pointing to his opening statement.
“I just tried to do that,” Belichick said. “Sorry, if that wasn’t good enough.”
In his opening statement, Belichick explained the Patriots moved the ball, but didn’t do a good enough job with field position. He said they couldn’t make “plays in critical situations.” That’s putting it lightly. The offensive unit never reached the red zone on Sunday – an improbable feat in today’s NFL.
This season, the Patriots have scored 10 or fewer points five times and they still have five games left. In Patriots franchise history, that’s only happened more to eight teams – 1990 (10), 1970 (8), 1991 (8), 1992 (7), 1965 (6), 1971 (6) and 1993 (6).
Sunday’s loss marked the second shutout for the Patriots this season. In franchise history, that’s happened four times, trying the 2023 Patriots with teams from 1972, 1970, and 1960. It happened only more with the 1992 Patriots team that was shut out three times.
To sum it up, this Patriots offense is historically bad.
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That’s one reason why Belichick benched Mac Jones and started Bailey Zappe against the Chargers. The results, however, weren’t different.
Has Belichick identified any of the missteps when it comes to the offense not scoring?
“I just answered that question,” Belichick replied. “This isn’t a season review. We’re talking about the game. The game’s just over. I’m happy to talk about the game. I’m not getting into a season review if that’s what you’re asking.”
Except, the Patriots coach hasn’t explained why he thinks his offense is one of the worst in the NFL and why it’s continues to get worse this season.
Belichick’s non-answers were reflective of what the players said in the post-game locker room. As soon as the doors opened, at 4:05 p.m., Hunter Henry was still in uniform at his locker with his head in his hands. Players on offense couldn’t fathom what happened. For 60 minutes, the group had 10 offensive drives. They punted seven times, turned the ball over on downs twice, and had one turnover (a fumble).
When asked what the main reason was that the offense played so poorly, the answers were mixed.
“It’s really frustrating not being able to go down and put points on the board,” receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said. “I feel like we’re not executing plays that we should have and putting ourselves in position to put points on the board.”
“I would say consistency,’ added receiver Tyquan Thornton. “I don’t feel like we’re that far away. I feel like we need to make more of the routine plays and go out there and execute better.”
“It’s very frustrating,” receiver DeVante Parker said. “We practice hard. We practice our ass off. We just can’t get it done.”
The Patriots have obvious issues at receiver and lack true game-changing talent. With Kendrick Bourne (knee) and Demario Douglas (concussion) out, it only made things worse on Sunday. The team’s pass protection has also been a yearlong issue. The team allowed five sacks on Sunday, pushing the total up to 30 this season.
By comparison, the Patriots allowed 28 sacks in 17 games in 2021. In Tom Brady’s final two seasons, 2018 and 2019, the unit allowed 21 and 28 sacks.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Trent Brown said when asked why the offense has struggled. I can’t speak about anybody. I can only speak about myself.”
“I can’t point a finger on it,” right tackle Michael Onwenu added. “It’s a team game. It’s not one thing.”
The Patriots offense has hit a low point in the Belichick era. It didn’t look this bad in 2020′s COVID year with Cam Newton. It wasn’t close to this bad in 2021 with a rookie Mac Jones. It somehow looked better last year when Matt Patricia was the offensive coordinator.
The Patriots entered Sunday’s game ranked 31st in the NFL in scoring. The lowest they’ve finished with Belichick at the helm is 27th in 2020. The worst offensive finish in Patriots franchise history is 28th in 1990.
The architect of this dismal offense is Belichick. He’s the one who put together an inadequate offensive line. He’s the one who failed to bring in a top-flight receiver. Under his watch, he has two young quarterbacks, Jones and Zappe, who’ve regressed since last season. There are no answers on offense because the vision from the top was lacking a true direction.
How surprised is Belichick by the lack of production from the offense?
“I don’t know,” Belichick responded.
That’s the problem.
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