The New England Patriots entered their Week 4 contest against the Dallas Cowboys with a lot of hope. They had just beaten the New York Jets in Week 3, and saw the Cowboys get upset by the Arizona Cardinals in the prior week too. When all was said and done, though, the Pats were embarrassed by a score of 38-3, and at the center of it all once again was Mac Jones and Bill Belichick.

The quarterback and coach are two of the most important people on a football team, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that these two were the focal points of New England's worst loss of the Belichick era. Jones committed three turnovers in this game, with two of them being returned for touchdowns, while seemingly every single move Belichick made blew up in his face.

By the time the final whistle was blown, the Patriots went from being a team surrounded with optimism to one that was falling apart at the seams. And while Jones plays a role in the team's struggles, it's becoming more and more evident that the main reason New England cannot win football games right now is because of Belichick.

Why Bill Belichick deserves the blame for Patriots struggles

Ever since Tom Brady left the Patriots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the debate between who was more responsible for the success of New England's dynasty has raged on. While these sorts of arguments are a waste of time, it's becoming tougher and tougher to ignore how poorly Belichick has managed the Patriots since Brady's departure.

Belichick immediately made the decision to replace Brady with Cam Newton, which wasn't an awful move, and at least kept New England competitive during the 2020 campaign. He drafted Mac Jones with the 15th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, and the Patriots seemingly had their quarterback of the future.

The problem is Jones hasn't looked anything like the player New England thought they were drafting for long stretches of action. His arm strength has always been a concern, but his decision-making, which was a big reason why he was a first-round draft pick, has been middling at best, and he lacks the clutch gene that had become so commonplace on New England's best teams.

While Jones has not met expectations, it's also tough to look at the hand that Belichick is dealing him and feel like he's being given a fair shot. Quarterbacks have to overcome adversity in the NFL to succeed, and Jones hasn't been able to do that yet. In the same line of thought, though, it would also help if Belichick was actually attempting to help Jones win games.

Go take a quick look at New England's depth chart. Offensively speaking, the talent surrounding Jones is moribound. Jones' top five pass-catchers in DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Hunter Henry, and Mike Gesicki are secondary options on offense. There's nobody in that group that opposing defenses fear, and it makes life very difficult for Jones because guys simply aren't getting open.

This would be a more manageable situation if New England had a rushing attack, but they don't. Their offensive line cannot open holes on the ground, and even when they do, Rhamondre Stevenson has spent most of the season stuck in neutral. Through four games, Mac Jones is being asked to throw to a crop of receivers who cannot get open, and is going against front sevens that also knows they cannot run the football. That's a recipe for disaster, which is what the Patriots offense has been.

If you look at that same depth chart, you will see a lot of injuries on defense, which is something Belichick cannot totally control. The secondary, which is now without star rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez, is wildly shorthanded, and that may not change anytime soon. However, losing Matthew Judon for most of the season to a bicep injury he suffered late in the blowout loss to the Cowboys was completely preventable. Judon should not have been on the field at this stage of the game.

That falls squarely on Belichick's shoulders, and when you combine that with the fact that he benched Jones midway through the third quarter because of the score of the game, it only makes that call look worse. Not only is Belichick once again sparking quarterback battle rumors between Jones and Bailey Zappe, but he inadvertently caused Judon's injury by not pulling his best player in a game that was already decided.

This isn't to say that Belichick isn't a legendary coach, but it's beginning to feel like he is not the guy who can dig New England out of the hole they find themselves in. The roster is not designed to win games currently; this isn't the Brady era anymore where you can shortchange your star quarterback on offensive talent and give him a strong defense to win games. Jones is not the player Brady was, which has been clear since day one.

Belichick has never truly built up his rosters to accommodate the fact that Brady isn't here anymore, and while they managed to stay afloat for three seasons, things are finally falling apart. The defense is extremely banged up, and as we have seen very clearly through three games, the offense is not good enough to pick up the slack. Things could get ugly real fast here.

You'd love to see Mac Jones step up and show a bit more resilience, but he can only do so much with what he has. While Jones' tenure with New England could certainly be winding down, the same could be true for Belichick if the losses keep piling up. Things are becoming dire in very quickly, and the main person deserving of blame for the current situation is Belichick. How much longer he can survive if things keep going downhill remains to be seen, so here's hoping that the Patriots can bounce back in Week 5 and beyond.