How did the Mac Jones era with the New England Patriots go so horribly wrong?

So, how did the Mac Jones era with the New England Patriots go so horribly wrong? Perhaps the day will come when we learn it was all Bill Belichick’s fault, thanks to a revelatory 10-part documentary that includes cutaway shots of Patriots owner Robert Kraft riding in on a white horse to stop the insanity.

Until that day comes, let’s call this what it is: A total team effort. Blame Jones for not stepping up. Blame Belichick for stepping in it via that cockamamie plan to hand the offense to Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, two Belichick cronies whose otherwise extensive coaching resumes didn’t include a “Stuff I’ve Done Working With the Offense” page.

Blame the Krafts, blame the talk shows, blame the youth football program back in Jacksonville that provided a stage for little Mac’s first quarterback snaps.

Now I’ll admit divvying up slices of blame pie is too easy, too diplomatic. We all like to have a villain, a bad guy. (I’m picturing a grizzled TV detective, say, Peter Falk from “Columbo,” producing a playbook with Matt Patricia’s fingerprints on it.)

But to take a step back and watch it all unfold, season by season, game by game, play by play, is to awaken to the reality that it just wasn’t going to work out. Even after Jones’ inaugural 2021 season, when he won all kinds of awards (All-Rookie Team! Pro Bowl alternate! Team record for touchdown passes by a rookie!) there were nagging doubts he wasn’t the guy to return the Patriots to something even close to the Tom Brady years.

Yes, it was unfair to even think in those terms. Brady, after all, was a singular talent, a Boston sports icon on a par with Ted Williams, Bill Russell, Bobby Orr, Larry Bird and David Ortiz. And considering that Jones’ lone playoff appearance, with the ’21 Pats, was against the Josh Allen-quarterbacked Buffalo Bills (who scored on every offensive possession), this just wasn’t the year for a new New England quarterback to make his bones.

But the 2022 season was, we can all agree, a wire-to-wire mess. Patricia and Judge were running their paint-by-numbers offense, and Jones dissolved into a petulant sideline eye-roller, doing everything in his power to get out his message that “It’s not me.”

Well, it was him. Some of it, anyway. In 2023, the arrival of a for-real offensive coordinator in Bill O’Brien didn’t help Jones settle down, even if it’s a personally acceptable comeback to point out that the ’23 Pats didn’t have a for-real receiving corp. Especially after Belichick, given a choice to either show Jakobi Meyers the money or show him the door, chose the latter.

TRADE: Patriots trading QB Mac Jones to the Jaguars for a late-round pick. (via @rapsheet + @tompelissero) pic.twitter.com/qDCW4TI0fb

— NFL (@NFL) March 10, 2024

But, yes, Jones had an epically bad 2023 season, the kind that may still have some Pats fans waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. That little floater he threw into the mitts of the Colts’ Julian Blackmon in Germany could merit a 10-part documentary of its own, except it’d be impossible to blame Belichick this time.

The Patriots held a nice gathering last month at Gillette Stadium, allowing members of their newly assembled coaching staff to mingle with the media. It was all cake and cookies and fun stories, and it included a message from the new offensive coordinator, Alex Van Pelt, when he was asked if he envisions a scenario in which Mac Jones quarterbacks the Patriots in 2024.

“Really, right now, everything is on the table,” Van Pelt said. “As we go through this process, this last couple weeks, 10 days, have just been diving into who we are, trying to evaluate our guys. A lot of people in this situation, on staffs that have been here, they’re doing free agency. Well, we’re doing our guys as they are … We’re trying to understand who we have here, as well as looking at other players out there.”

GO DEEPER

Mac Jones trade grades: Jaguars buy low while Patriots recoup late draft pick

It was the right thing to say at the time. Van Pelt was barely beyond the human resources part of his new job — change of address forms, health insurance, parking pass, etc. — and it would have been wildly inappropriate to so much as hint at any kind of finality for Jones in New England.

But everyone knew where this was going. And it has played out in a way that’s acceptable to everyone: Mac Jones gets to pick up the pieces and begin a new chapter in his career, and the Patriots get to pick up a new quarterback by any number of means.

It was all getting tired. Belichick trying to avoid even speaking Jones’ name at news conferences was tired. Jones’ on-field immaturity was tired. Oh, and this was really tired: When Jones suffered a high ankle sprain late in the Patriots’ 37-26 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 25, 2022, and was seen visibly wincing in pain as he exited the field, a lot of really, really tough people out there took exception to all that wincing. Because, you know, we’ve all played quarterback in the NFL and know how to react when one of our ankles has been twisted up like a pretzel.

Here’s hoping Mac Jones’ stop in Jacksonville, however long it lasts, turns out to be a step toward the reboot of a once-promising NFL career.

Here’s hoping Jones grows up a little.

Here’s hoping Belichick, if he ever gets a chance to coach again, discovers the magic of being able to speak of his quarterback, or any other player, by his actual name.

Here’s hoping the next Patriots quarterback gets treated with a little more respect than the last one.

(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)