Bedard: Are the Patriots coaches going to look in mirror with Mac Jones' descent?

FOXBOROUGH — Never in a million years did any of this seem possible.

The Patriots are 3-4 and in the basement of the AFC East after a stunning 33-14 loss at home to the Chicago Bears. Guess I really shouldn't be all that surprised the Patriots are below .500 after seven games, considering this is where they've been all three seasons after Tom Brady left (2-5, 3-4, 3-4).

They gave up 390 yards and 61 percent on third down — and allowed them to possess the ball nearly an entire quarter more — to a Bears offense that was one of the NFL's worst. Quarterback Justin Fields was looked at as the big mistake of the 2021 NFL QB draft class. The Patriots made him look like Lamar Jackson on Monday night.

And the most shocking part — the state of the Patriots' quarterback position — has left everyone speechless, including players in the locker room who said they weren't told anything ahead of time (the QBs swear there was a plan that they agreed with).

Bill Belichick has so bungled this situation that Jakobi Meyers was obviously irked that Mac Jones — a captain of this team, mind you — was subjected to Zap-pe, Zap-pe chants, getting pulled after three series, all of it.

"It’s tough to see somebody who works so hard get that kind of treatment,” he told reporters, via Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald. “Not even the coaches, just everybody. The crowd, all of it. It was an ugly situation, in my opinion.”

What a mess Belichick has made.

The bottom line is this: with just 16 plays and six pass attempts, Jones is no closer to being productive now than he was while injured. I asked him if he got enough work to feel ready to play against the Jets, and this was his answer:

"That's a great question," he said.

In other words, no.

Oh, and Bailey Zappe's two-interception, four-batted pass, one fumble performance should leave his confidence shattered.

So what did the Patriots actually accomplish with that "plan" that Belichick tried to sell us, and ESPN?

"We had planned to play – I told the quarterbacks that we were going to play both of them, and that's what we did," Belichick said.

Heading to play the 5-2 Jets, the Patriots seem like they are now 0 for 2 on QBs with any sort of confidence they can execute for an entire NFL game.

Wonderful.

We'll get into the specifics of the mess in this game in a minute. But you really need to step back to behold the slide they have gone into in a matter of months.

At the end of last season, Jones was clearly the best of the 2021 NFL Draft Class — Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Justin Fields and Jones. From the Patriots' own media guide:

- Jones' 3,801 yards were the 5th-highest total by a rookie in NFL history;
- His 22 touchdowns are tied for 8th-most among rookie QBs;
- His 67.6 completion percentage was second-best for rookie QB (Dak Prescott, 67.7 in 2016).

Oh, and he led the Patriots to a 10-7 record and back to the playoffs. Made it to the Pro Bowl.

Not a stellar season, but a pretty good baseline. Heading into Year 2, even Belichick was bullish on the improvement Jones had made in the offseason.

"I think there's a dramatic improvement," Belichick said. "His physical work and conditioning, working on his mechanics, working on his footwork, working on his understanding of our offense, of opponents defense, of situations all those things. ... He's made tremendous strides. He did a great job last year but he's starting it from a much much higher point this year than where he started last year. His offseason work has been significant. I think everyone recognizes how well he prepares and how much further along he is than he was a year ago."

Not even two months into his second season, Jones' confidence is shot, he was benched for a fourth-round rookie who didn't even beat out Brian Hoyer for the backup spot and didn't dress in the first three games, and Jones now has six interceptions to two touchdowns.

Is anyone inside One Patriot Place going to stop, just for a minute, and ask, "How the hell did we allow this to happen?"

God forbid they look in the mirror and admit, "Hey, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to change so much, since it's obviously been to the detriment of the QB we picked 15th overall in the first round."

I mean, how much more evidence do you need?

I thought one of the mantras of the Patriots, which has obviously served them very well over decades, was to put each player in position to succeed. Does anyone, anywhere think they've done that with Jones?

Is Belichick going to ask some hard questions of offensive coordinator Matt Patricia and quarterbacks coach Joe Judge?

Maybe he should, since some believe there's some deck-stacking going on in this QB mess.

After two games of the Patriots getting back to the 2021 offense with multiple tight ends, getting under center and running playaction during the winning streak — Jones' offense with Josh McDaniels last year — the Patriots went right back to their failed new 2022 offense from Games 1-3 with Jones in shotgun on eight of his first nine plays, including penalties. When Jones was under center on the third drive, they ran the first four plays and finally threw on the last one when Jones threw a terrible floater INT into zone coverage.

I mean, the first "playaction" Jones ran was the second play of the second series, some dumb little RPO action from shotgun that fooled no one, he felt immediate pressure and was sacked. Same action on the next play, and he was pressured. 

To start the third possession, Jones got blasted while throwing a decent deep shot to Tyquan Thornton, who appeared to be held. After finally getting under center and running the ball, did the Patriots stay under center for 3rd and 5 and run playaction to build off that run action? No, they got back into the shotgun, motioned the back out to leave empty protection and Jones scrambled for a first down.

On first down ... hello, under center with two tight ends ... finally. Pulled the guard and ran for 4. Next down .... back in shotgun, Jones hit Hunter Henry for 12 yards. Back under center for first down, two tight ends ... of course Patricia has to call an outside zone run that goes for 1 yard — back to Weeks 1-3. Second and 9 ... shotgun again, Jones scrambles for 8, they run for 1 yard on third and short. 

Finally, on his 15th play, the Patriots gave Jones playaction, but did they build any run action — a pulling guard or tight end or anything? No. Jones was a little jittery as he could have thrown deep to DeVante Parker or Meyers, but that's understandable — that's why you run it earlier to ease him into it. But he checked it down and Damien Harris dropped it. On third down, Jones threw his very bad interception that is inexcusable.

When Zappe came in, his first throw was a quick one in zone. His second was a designed pick for Rhamondre Stevenson that worked (for once) for 20 yards. On his fourth play, third throw, the Patriots got Zappe under center and then used two different run actions — Meyers in short motion to fake toss crack, and pulled Henry across the formation — to get Meyers wide open for the touchdown.

Great playcall, for sure. Totally faked out the Bears with that dual run-action. Good stuff by Patricia.

Here's the question: where was that type of call for Jones? Was Patricia saving it for Zappe? Was he stacking the deck for Zappe, who wasn't here last year, doesn't know what a real NFL OC/QB coach looks or sounds like, and who does anything the coaches want?

I heard from two league sources during the game who asked that very question.

There's a feeling that Patricia and Judge don't know how to get Jones playing better because they've never been tasked with that, that they'd rather go with Zappe because he does exactly as ordered and is a clean slate. And that Patricia and Judge heavily influenced the decision to get Zappe into the game.

But now that Zappe has been exposed as a short, limited rookie who isn't a starting quarterback, now what are Patricia and Judge to do?

Belichick was trying to thread the needle in this one. He thought he could get Jones' feet wet, at the very least, and keep Zappe in the conversation. Belichick just never figured his defense, led by his son, would get worked up and down the field by Fields.

Belichick either should have gone with the hot hand of Zappe from the start, or went with Jones come hell or high water because he's the best QB for this team this season.

Instead, it looked like Belichick tried to do both, including keeping the Zappe-alots on staff appeased, and has successfully thrown the team into disarray.

"The priority should have been getting Jones back to playing well, but they don't know how to do that," said one league source. "They've made a mountain out of a molehill. Dallas did it right, amazing as that is."

Dak Prescott came back on Sunday and was so rusty that he trailed the Lions at home, 6-3. Prescott had produced three punts, a fumble and a field goal in the first half, and converted just 1-of-7 third-down attempts. Did Mike McCarthy insert Cooper Rush, who won his first four starts and whose only loss was to the undefeated Eagles?

Of course, he didn't. Because that would be silly. They instead did this: they pounded the run (139 yards on 32 carries) and then Prescott went 11-of-12 for 121 yards and a touchdown off play-action as he finished 19 of 25 passing for 207 yards in a 24-6 win.

"I thought Dak performed better as the game went on," coach Mike McCarthy told reporters after. "It's his first time he's been out there in quite some time. Start with the command of the huddle, the whole operation, I thought he was really on point there. He handled the adjustments that were going on during the course of the game. Those are the big things that don't show up in the stat column."

Look at that, a head coach who knows that his franchise QB returning from injury is going to need some time, and an experienced offensive coordinator (Kellen Moore) using a good running game and playaction to make the QB feel comfortable.

Contrast that to what just happened in New England.

Yes, none of this seemed possible a short time ago. Yet, here we and they are.