Will Bill Belichick be the reason the Patriots miss the playoffs?

Bill Belichick was arguably the biggest reason why the New England Patriots had one of the best runs in NFL history over the past 20 years. 

Now, Colin Cowherd thinks Belichick is the biggest reason why the organization will miss the playoffs for the second time in three years. 

On Friday’s edition of “The Herd,” Cowherd predicted that the Patriots will miss the playoffs in this upcoming season, following the news that they won’t have an offensive or defensive coordinator. 

“I look at this and go, ‘This is Belichick having too much power,’” Cowherd said. “If you look at their staff, he’s got three kinds of people on his current staff: You have to be related to him — he’s got two of his kids on the staff — you have to have played for him — Troy Brown and Jerod Mayo are on his staff — or have a long relationship with him. 

“He said something about five or six years ago that really stuck with me. He said, ‘I only want to coach players I enjoy coaching.’ Bro, that’s not the way it works. Not every employee is your cup of tea, but they’re gifted.”

If Cowherd’s prediction comes true, he isn’t sure if Belichick, who turned 70 in April, will last in New England. 

“What if they don’t make the playoffs again? Three years post-[Tom] Brady, no playoffs, and one first-round exit, and not really competitive?” Cowherd said. “They have a defensive coach in an offensive-leaning league. They don’t draft well. … They’ve got no great skill position players at wideout.

“Somebody can be really, really smart and miss. Somebody can know an industry and miss,” Cowherd added. “Andy Reid got fired. Tom Landry got fired. I don’t know what you do. I’m fascinated to watch it.”

Belichick certainly hasn’t had the same success without Brady as he did with him. 

Dating back to his coaching days with the Browns, Belichick is 70-79 in games he’s coached without Brady and has only made the playoffs twice in the nine seasons when Brady wasn’t his quarterback to end the season. 

However, Belichick was able to reach the playoffs last season and has a winning record in the regular season (17-16) since Brady left for Tampa Bay. 

The upcoming season won’t be Belichick’s first without coordinators on both sides of the ball, either. New England didn’t have offensive or defensive coordinators in the 2009 and 2010 seasons. 

The Patriots won the AFC East in both years — but they also had Brady at QB.