Now that Robert Kraft has fired Jerod Mayo, this is how they mark the time at One Patriot Place: three head coaches in three years, five in five at offensive coordinator, six in five at quarterback, seven if you count Joe Milton. This is how bad organizations operate, how the Patriots ran themselves into the ground long before Tom Brady and the two Bills. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.

The Patriots are a clown show, folks.

The facts are the facts.

Black Monday in the NFL? In the end, Jerod Mayo didn’t make it much past sunset on Sunday, after the Patriots both defeated the Buffalo Bills and lost their grip on the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL draft. The score of the game was 23-16 in favor of the Patriots, but the final judgment was much, much worse. The ass-backwards Patriots won the first game of their season and the last, two games they probably shouldn’t have, bookends around a 15-game middle during which they went 2-13. The end result was the same 4-13 record they posted a year ago, when Kraft and most everyone else blamed Bill Belichick for what felt like the end of the Roman Empire.

Now we know that ruin was not yet complete.

Before we go any further, let’s make something clear here amid the clouds of dust still rising from the rubble: this was not Mayo’s not fault. He was far more a victim than a culprit. Kraft hired Mayo for all the wrong reasons from the very beginning, something he all but admitted in a statement that came late yesterday, shortly after the news of Mayo’s dismissal first broke.

“When other teams started requesting to interview him, I feared I would lose him and committed to making him our next head coach,” the statement read. “Winning our season-opener on the road at Cincinnati only strengthened my convictions. Unfortunately, the trajectory of our team’s performances throughout the season did not ascend as I had hoped.”

Additionally, in his statement, Kraft’s also said Mayo “earned my respect and admiration as a rookie in 2008 and throughout his career for his play on the field, his leadership in the locker room and the way he conducted himself in our community.” Then and now, he never mentioned anything about Mayo’s acumen as a coach, a strategist, a football addict. And he dropped Mayo into the middle of a major rebuild without Mayo having possessed any experience even as a defensive coordinator, which is a little like handing your son the keys to your Ferrari … on his 11th birthday.

He’ll be able to drive it someday, of course.

Just not yet.

Of all that Kraft offered in his statement, that first excerpt above is the one that should resonate with you: When other teams started requesting to interview him, I feared I would lose him and committed to making him our next head coach. Um, but why? Who other than Kraft had identified Mayo as the next Sean McVay? Now 83, Kraft acted like a man trying to put his affairs in order more than identify the next qualified coach for his football team. His priorities seemed misplaced. Now another Patriots season is in the dumpster and Kraft’s franchise is stuck in the mud.

The rebuild of the Patriots? They have not sacrificed only one season. They have now sacrificed much of the last five since Tom Brady walked out the door and took most of the Patriots credibility with him. By the time Mayo’s replacement shows up next season, the Patriots will have their third head coach in three seasons. The offensive coordinator will be the fifth in five years, following Josh McDaniels, Matt Patricia, Bill O’Brien and Alex Van Pelt. Since Brady bolted, six have started a game at quarterback, from Cam Newton, Brian Hoyer and Mac Jones to Bailey Zappe, Jacoby Brissett and now Drake Maye.

The common factors in all of it? Kraft and his oldest son, Jonathan, who was curiously absent from the press conference to announce Mayo’s hiring last January 17.

So what happens now? Good question. We are left to wonder, of course, whether Jonathan Kraft ever wanted Mayo at all, only fueling the theory that Robert Kraft’s decision to hire Mayo in the first place was far more personal than professional. Maybe the Pats will hire Mike Vrabel, whom the Pats could have hired a year ago had Kraft not contractually committed himself to Mayo a full year before that. Maybe the Pats will pursue the coveted Ben Johnson, the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions, dangling Maye in front of him like, well, the keys to a new Ferrari.

Whatever the case, the Krafts have been hitting the reset button far too frequently, like an adolescent frustrated with his game play.

Here’s what we know for sure: the Patriots spent 19 years building an unprecedented dynasty around Brady and now are left with little more than debris. Maye is a building block, to be sure. So, too, is cornerback Christian Gonzalez. Beyond that, the Patriots feel like they’re getting worse, not better, and the firing of Mayo now makes the entire 2024 season feel like a rather sizable waste of valuable time.

“Since buying the team, I have always considered myself and my family as custodians of a public asset,” Kraft said in his statement. “We have tremendous fans who expect and deserve a better product than we have delivered in recent years. I apologize for that. I have given much thought and consideration as to what actions I can take to expedite our return to championship contention and determined this move was the best option at this time.”

He basically said the same thing a year ago, of course.

You can decide for yourself whether you should trust him.