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Bill Belichick 2024 coaching odds: Patriots legend in worst three-game slide of Hall of Fame career, sticking with Mac Jones in Week 7 vs. Bills

Could Bill Belichick retire after this season?

Matt Severance

Bill Belichick might be the greatest coach in NFL history, but a coach is often only as good as his quarterback, as Belichick knows well from his time with Tom Brady. The Patriots and QB Mac Jones have embarrassed themselves in three straight games, but Jones will reportedly start Sunday vs. Buffalo. Jones' future appears tenuous at best with New England, as does Belichick's – and SportsLine offers odds on whether the future Hall of Famer will be coaching the team next season.

There's no need to explain how the Pats and Jones were terrible in a 38-3 loss in Dallas in Week 4, or in Week 5's 34-0 home to New Orleans. That made Belichick, he of the coaching record six Super Bowl rings, the only Super Bowl-winning head coach to lose back-to-back games by at least 34 points. The Patriots played better this past Sunday but still lost 21-17 in Las Vegas against a group of former Patriots in coach Josh McDaniels and QBs Jimmy Garoppolo and Brian Hoyer.

New England knocked Garoppolo out late in the first half with a back injury, yet couldn't take advantage of the journeyman Hoyer in the second half as he led two second-half scoring drives and finished 6-of-10 passing for 102 yards.

Jones was reported to have a short leash on Sunday after being pulled from each of the previous two games. He managed to avoid being benched against the Raiders and finished 24-for-33 for 200 yards, a pick and three sacks taken – including a late safety that clinched it for Las Vegas and led to a horrible bad beat for Patriots +3 bettors. It's not like New England has a better option on the roster with the likes of Malik Cunningham and Bailey Zappe. 

Belichick now has the third-worst score differential from a former Super Bowl-winning head coach in three-game span (-73). New England is 1-5 for the first time since 1995 when it finished 6-10 under Bill Parcells, and likely will finish last in the division for the first time since 2000.

It used to be taboo for former Patriots players to call on Belichick to step down, but it's happening now. Belichick has 330 career wins, second only to Don Shula's 347, and many believe Belichick wants to stick around until he breaks the record.

"What do I personally feel [about] how this should go, and how this should end with Bill Belichick? This is just my personal feeling on what should happen," former Pats linebacker Tedi Bruschi said. "I want him to coach his ass off this season and get six, seven wins, all right? Have them playing respectable by the end of the season, and walk away. That's what I want my former coach to do. Don't -- Shula doesn't matter. You've got multiple Super Bowls over Shula. You're a better coach."

Counting the playoffs, the record for most career losses belongs to Tom Landry, who dropped 178. Belichick has lost 170 total games, so he may break that record this year and should get one closer Sunday as nearly a double-digit dog vs. the Bills.

Belichick is much more than just a coach – his hands are over the entire roster, so he has to take the blame for not being able to find a quality QB since Brady left. The defense, Belichick's baby, is regressing. It's not like the Patriots are going to be that much better in 2024.

Few actually believe owner Robert Kraft would fire the 71-year-old Belichick during the season -- one offshore book has Belichick at +2000 to be the first coach fired -- after all the coach has done for the franchise. But "hard conversations" are coming between the two, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.  

New England is set to have more open cap space than any team in the league next season and could have a top-five pick to spend on a new QB, potentially Caleb Williams or Drake Maye. That might incentivize Kraft to pursue an offensive-minded coach.

Via SportsLine oddsmakers: Will Bill Belichick be the Patriots' head coach for Week 1 of the 2024 season?

  • No -130
  • Yes +110

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