Bill Belichick has a bed to sleep in. At this point, he’s choosing between a mangled pile of jagged rocks and a fresh, cold slab of stone.

Neither bed is gonna be particularly comfortable, but it sounds like Belichick is going to stick with the jagged rocks that he’s been rolling in throughout the 2022 season. It’s simply too late now to throw that out and start over with the Patriots’ embattled offense, whose struggle under play-caller Matt Patricia and quarterbacks coach Joe Judge has not reflected the talent on the roster.

It’s obvious, now, that the offense is going to need more experienced coaches on that side of the ball – but that wouldn’t come until 2023. Belichick confirmed in his most recent interview that he’s not going to make any major changes on the coaching staff now.

“I think we need to do what we’re doing better,” Belichick said in his weekly call with WEEI. “I don’t think, at this point, making a lot of dramatic changes is – it’s too hard to do that. If we can just do consistently what we’re doing, we’ll be alright, but we just haven’t been able to have enough consistency, and that’s hurt us. It’s not one thing, one time it’s one thing, next time it’s something else. We just have to play and coach more consistently.”

The Patriots offense has had ups and downs in terms of explosive plays, efficiency, and ball security. There may be no better illustration of the highs and lows than their past two games, a productive effort in a Thanksgiving loss to the Vikings, and a distressingly inept slog in a 24-10 loss to the Bills.

But they’ve also been consistent – consistently bad, that is – in the red zone. And now they’ve hit rock-bottom. Entering Week 14, the Patriots sit dead-last in the league in red zone touchdown percentage at an abysmal 37.5 percent.

The real second-guess with Belichick is not whether he overhauls the offensive operation right now. It’s that he put Patricia and Judge, whose experience is predominantly on defense and special teams, in charge of running the offense in the first place. And not changing that a lot sooner, especially considering their problems were evident from day 1 of training camp in July.

New England brought back plenty of the same players from 2021, when the offense finished sixth in the NFL in points per game. Mac Jones, Rhamondre Stevenson, Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne, Hunter Henry, Nelson Agholor, Jonnu Smith, Trent Brown, David Andrews, and Mike Onwenu should be enough offensive talent to finish better than 20th in points, 22nd in turnovers, 25th in total yards, and 32nd in the red zone. Especially if Belichick is supposed to be the great equalizer against more talented teams.

It’s obvious that Belichick’s ill-advised delegation of Patricia and Judge to the offense has blown up in his face, but he is accepting that and will try to improve with the setup as it is right now. It’s unrealistic to expect a teardown in December. But once the off-season, which may come without a playoff berth, begins, then we’ll see what kind of changes they make.

It would be surprising if Robert and Jonathan Kraft didn’t mandate those changes themselves.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on the Patriots down the stretch run of the 2022 season, as they hang by a thread in the AFC playoff race. Click here for complete New England Patriots coverage at 985TheSportsHub.com.

Matt Dolloff is a writer and podcaster for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Have a news tip, question, or comment for Matt? Yell at him on Twitter @mattdolloff and follow him on Instagram @realmattdolloff. Check out all of Matt’s content here.