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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Robert Zeglinski

The Saints handed Bill Belichick the worst home loss of his legendary coaching career

Bill Belichick Patriots Tom Brady

Under Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots enjoyed the greatest sustained run in professional football history to start the 21st century. Case closed. Now, they’re making history for all the wrong reasons after an atrocious 34-0 loss at the hands of the New Orleans Saints on Sunday afternoon.

With the defeat, the Patriots not only fell to 1-4 — an almost impossible hole to dig out of, even with 12 games remaining — they gave Belichick a black mark on his resume. In the legend’s entire head coaching career, which includes 24 seasons with the Patriots and five with the Cleveland Browns, he had never lost by more than 30 points at home until Sunday. Think about how wild that number is and how consistent Belichick’s teams have been that it took him almost 30 years to lose by at least 30 at home.

And think about what it says for these current Patriots amidst their tailspin, who lost 38-3 to the Dallas Cowboys just a week prior:

If that 72-3 scoring margin over the last two weeks wasn’t enough, the Patriots have now gone over 30 possessions without scoring a touchdown:

Belichick has won six Super Bowls with the Patriots, and he made them a regular AFC powerhouse fixture for the better part of two decades. The 71-year-old has earned the right to do whatever he wants with the lead headset. But as the Patriots continue to flounder like this (gestures at an incompetent dumpster fire), questions may start to arise about how much longer Belichick will coach in the NFL.

New England might need a full-scale rebuild to be successful again, and, at this juncture anyway, it’s hard to imagine Belichick would stick around for that extended process.

This was how Twitter reacted

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