The stakes “don't get bigger for a franchise than the next month for the Patriots” as the season nears its end and more reports of coach Bill Belichick are revealed, according to Greg Bedard of the BOSTON SPORTS JOUNRAL. The possible parting of ways with an all-time great coach in Belichick is a “heavy subject for all involved.” Everyone is “walking a tightrope” as this is an “unprecedented time” for the franchise. Bedard wrote he believes the Krafts “decided at some point after the Colts game” that the “die was cast and they were likely going to have to part ways with Belichick after the season.” Bedard: “I think Belichick knows this as well.” He added he would “expect a meeting to happen sometime before the season finale.” Bedard: “The Krafts want the least drama-filled ending possible for themselves, Belichick and the fans. I don't think that can happen if they wait until Jan. 8 to discuss it.” Bedard wrote everyone he has spoken with is “adamant that Belichick is not going to allow [Robert] Kraft to find the 'elegant solution' everyone keeps talking about” -- unless there “was some tweak to Belichick's contract Kraft got at the time of the last extension that allows for that.” He added the odds are “strong” that this “will end up being a firing at the end of the day.” More than one organization has “already been sniffing around Belichick” (BOSTON SPORTS JOURNAL, 12/14).
IT'S FINAL...BUT NOT FINAL: In Boston, Darren Hartwell noted team insider Tom Curran reported Monday in “fairly definitive terms that Patriots ownership is ready to move on from Belichick after the season.” Curran on a new Patriots Talk Podcast episode said of his initial report, "Based on the conversation I had, it felt as if the decision was fairly well-sealed. However, if the Patriots finish with a flourish, could things change? It's 28-3 right now. We know that's not an insurmountable deficit, but it's very late in the game." Curran: "It's the nature of the losses and the product on the field and the promises of improvement that the Kraft family made to their season-ticket holders that led to that decision at that time. Could a flourish change things? Could Bill Belichick turn on the charisma and the charm and unearth a plan for going forward that at the end of the season, the decision changes? Until it's done, it's not done, and everyone reserves the right to change their mind." Curran added, "I would say it's not a final, final decision rendered after the Indianapolis game. But a decision as to which direction they were going in had been made” (NBCSPORTSBOSTON.com, 12/14).
