The New England Patriots at 2-9 have hit a two-decade low. After years of playoff dominance, Bill Belichick and the Patriots have struggled to find their footing in the post-Tom Brady era. Mac Jones appears to be on his way to the bench with Bailey Zappe soon to take over the starting job, and there's little to like about the future in New England right now.
Even Belichick's role as head coach is worth questioning at this point, though one would think he's earned the right to go out on his own will. Still, life comes at you fast in the NFL.
New England draws the short week in Week 14 with a Thursday night matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road. During this week's TNF game between the Seahawks and Cowboys, the broadcast took a second to promote next week's game.
Except... It had a lot of trouble justifying canceling any plans to tune in. The broadcast's graphic used T.J. Watt as its promo player for the home team. For the Patriots, they couldn't find even one player worth featuring for the promo. Instead, Bill Belichick was the featured face:
Bill Belichick's lack of star power is of his own design
As funny as it is that the Patriots roster is so bad that Amazon Prime can't find even one player worth featuring, the irony in featuring Belichick is the roster's design is his own doing. Belichick serves as the team's head coach and general manager, and while historically he's done a great job building winning rosters, the last few years have left plenty to be desired.
New England hasn't made it past the Wild Card round since 2018 when they last won the Super Bowl.
Thursday Night games are seldom much to write home about. The matchups typically aren't as cherry-picked as Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football are, and on such a short week teams are often ill-prepared. But this might take the cake as a new low.
The Steelers may seem like a team in turmoil having just fired their offensive coordinator Matt Canada, but at 7-4 they're just a game back for the lead in the AFC North. Anything can happen on Thursday night, but it may not be particularly close in Week 14.