The Patriots earned a surprise Week 1 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, but the season went downhill from there.
New England had all the confidence in the world after weeks of fans and analysts believing it didn’t have a team to compete with the best. Former head coach Jerod Mayo seemed to establish the team’s identity, but there reportedly was a different story behind the scenes.
“After we won, (Mayo) was the happiest guy, bouncing off the walls during the week. The happiest guy in the world,” a staff member told the Boston Herald. “And after we lost, it was like someone shot his dog.
“The source continued: ‘Meanwhile, most of us are in there watching the tape (of the Bengals game), and it’s like, Oh (expletive). We were so lucky to win this game. I don’t know if he watched the tape before taking that victory lap. We really lucked out there and obviously the rest of the season bore that out.'”
It turned out that the Bengals weren’t the Super Bowl contender they expected to be and failed to make the playoffs. The Patriots source told the Boston Herald that they believed things “got away” from them after Week 2.
New England spiraled from then on, and it cost Mayo his job. The Boston Herald highlighted other notes about how Mayo failed to establish a culture and other reports shed light on how the 38-year-old handled his business as a head coach weren’t conducive to making the team better.
It meant that a small victory lap from September left the Patriots searching for a new head coach by season’s end.
