Longo: Bungling Belichick Boys face heat in pivotal 2020 season

Bill Belichick and his reputation face serious heat this fall.

And honestly, the head coach and incumbent genius of the New England Patriots -- heading into his 21st season -- remains powerless to do one thing about it.

If Thursday night’s NFL opener — in which Belichick Coaching Tree poster child Bill O’Brien dictated his Houston Texans roll over and play dead in Kansas City — is any indication, the coach’s rep may be headed for yet another hatchet job.

O’Brien is the one “shining star” in Belichick’s stable, what with his two playoff wins in six seasons at the helm.

And here he was on Thursday night, huddling, running clock and punting at will while down 17 points early in the second half of the 34-20 drubbing.

“At the end of the day, it’s still a league about winning,” said O’Brien, now 53-49 as a head coach overall. “It’s all about winning.”

What is wrong with these guys? Is nothing from the greatest football coach to have ever walked this planet transferrable?

O’Brien has ridden the coat-tails of future Hall of Famers Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins and JJ Watt to zero trips past the Divisional round of playoffs.

Without Hopkins and with a stable of offensive talent that ranks among the AFC’s dregs -- porcelain-legged Will Fuller and well-traveled Brandon Cooks are Watson’s top targets along with underachiever Kenny Stills and a rather subdued Randall Cobb -- Houston might be an also-ran in an improving AFC South.

“We’ve got a long way to go here obviously, and we’ve got to get going. We have to improve very quickly,” said O’Brien, with a sense of non-urgency as if he could afford to use this month as preseason, a la Belichick.

When you’re flashing six rings as a head coach, that message is fine and dandy. For a guy with a 2-4 playoff mark? September is about desperation.

“We’ve got to get back to work very soon and fix these things,” was the best O’Brien could muster late Thursday, noting that his players would get extra time off this weekend.

O’Brien is by no means the only Belichick Baby on the clock.

Matt Patricia’s ship sank to the tune of 3-12-1 a year ago, making the ex-Belichick defensive savant -- or servant depending on how you look at it -- a gaudy 9-22-1 overall in his two seasons since skipping out of New England for the Motor City.

A Lions loss on Sunday at home against Mitchell Trubisky and the Chicago Bears could start Patricia’s Coach-ological clock a-ticking.

Sure another ex-Belichick underling, Bob Quinn, is Patricia’s boss. But who can put up with a third straight year of Patricia’s bungling? The guy has to be having cold sweats all week as he relives last year’s opener, which saw the Lions cough up an 18-point lead -- IN THE FOURTH QUARTER! -- before settling for a 27-all draw with the Cardinals.

“We’ve got a big challenge in front of us,” said Patricia this past week. “The guys are doing everything they can themselves to be successful. That’s our goal … Not going to live in the past.”

The latest additions to the NFL’s head-coaching fraternity Belichick Chapter include this week’s Patriots’ opponent Brian Flores in Miami and first-year head man Joe Judge with the New York Giants.

Flores returns to the scene of his most notorious triumph, last December’s 27-24 win which relegated the Patriots to Wild Card weekend and set the wheels in motion for a premature playoff exit and subsequent end to Tom Brady’s tenure in New England.

That was certainly an injection of energy into Flores’ first season with Miami. Unfortunately, it capped a 5-11 campaign, with one of the victories coming in Week 15, an exhausting overtime mud fight with the tanking Bengals.

Flores’ season, complete with the trademark Belichick style house-cleaning could hardly be considered the foundation of a dynasty, a la Bill’s initial 5-11 with the Pats in 2000.

Folks in South Florida will be looking to latch on to something good. Can they handle the fact that it will be Ryan Fitzpatrick under center, not rookie Tua Tagovailoa? Can Flores finesse things long enough to keep his troops and his fans on board?

A second 5-11 in a diluted AFC East featuring New York Jet Sam Darnold as the division’s top QB might signal an abrupt halt to Flores’ reign in South Beach.

“Everybody has to be ready to play. Everybody has to be ready to go,” said Flores this week as he prepares at a bid to knock off his former boss for the second straight time.

Branches from the Belichick coaching tree certainly understand NFL disappointment.

Standing near Belichick on Sunday, at least as close as social distancing allows, will be Josh McDaniels, a veteran of 28 games as an NFL coach, who didn’t even finish his second season in Denver, leaving a bloody mess with an 11-17 mark.

Even though he’s not a head coach, McDaniels will enjoy a special kind of scrutiny of his own this fall.

What if his offense, for the initial trip here without Tom Brady in an opener, seizes up into a combustible, inept mess?

Was it all Tom? Was the failed Broncos experiment the truth about Josh? Cam Newton had better have McDaniels’ back.

“You don’t have the kind of success that Cam has had in this league without doing things well,” said McDaniels confidently. “He’s done it at the highest level.”

If he and the Patriots offense don’t, starting this week, McDaniels will be in plenty of crosshairs, too.

Just like every other Belichick disciple.