Is it time for the Patriots to make a coaching change?

Even if Jackson and Jones' antics were uncalled for, it made no sense to punish them and put the success of the entire team in jeopardy. The Patriots secondary was already missing their top two names in Christian Gonzalez and Marcus Jones, and by subtracting two more names off of the depth chart for silly off-field decisions, Belichick was asking for his team to lose.  

Belichick also made the questionable decision during Sunday's game to bench struggling starting quarterback Mac Jones for backup Bailey Zappe with two minutes left in a one-score game. 

The thought process behind this move is hard to fathom, as the talent gap between Jones and Zappe is large, and there is no reason to believe Zappe would do any better than Jones against the Indianapolis defense. 

Not surprisingly, Zappe tossed three completions for 25 yards before throwing a fake-spike interception into triple coverage to seal the game.

Bad decision-making has been a trend for Belichick since before Tom Brady left. 

In 2019, Belichick — who doubles as New England's GM — drafted N'Keal Harry in the first round of the draft, passing up on names like DK Metcalf, Deebo Samuel, A.J. Brown, Terry McLaurin and more. 

Since that time, much of the Patriots failure has been a result of below-average receivers. Had Belichick made the right call in 2019, the last three or four years for New England may have been a lot different. 

In 2022, Belichick hired Matt Patricia — who had zero success calling offenses in the past —  as offensive play-caller. Patricia ran one of the the worst offenses in the NFL, and the team finished 8-9. 

In 2023, Belichick made the right call by firing Patricia for OC Bill O'Brien, but Belichick let WR Jakobi Meyers leave the team and instead signed JuJu Smith-Schuster. 

Through 10 games, Smith-Schuster has 22 catches for 149 yards and a touchdown. Through nine games, Meyers has 40 receptions for 442 yards and five touchdowns.

Belichick will be eternally recognized as a legend of the game because of the success he found with Brady, but the current era of the NFL no longer rewards Belichick's aged methodology.

Because of that, it's time for a change.