That’s some way to celebrate a win in your season finale.
The New England Patriots (4-13) beat the Buffalo Bills (13-4) to round out their 2024 NFL season in a 23-16 final. The game was meaningless for both… and in winning, the Pats lost more.
New England held the No. 1 pick at the upcoming 2025 NFL draft and lost that by topping the Bills… who essentially played their backup roster having nothing to play for. Buffalo was already locked into the No. 2 seed in the upcoming AFC postseason.
Barely over an hour after the win for the Patriots, they provided a surprising NFL headline: Mayo has been fired as head coach:
The #Patriots are moving on from coach Jerod Mayo, as the handpicked successor to Bill Belichick goes one-and-done, per me, @MikeGarafolo and @TomPelissero.
The Krafts anointed Mayo last year, but a troubling season led them to a change. pic.twitter.com/TWeo2JXNK9
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 5, 2025
Having only been the head coach in New England for one year, the move is shocking. That’s a rarity in the NFL as teams typically will give a coach more time than that, especially one that’s a former player.
Not only that, usually coaches are fired on “Black Monday” around the league… the nickname given to the next day following the end of a NFL season. Mayo didn’t even make it until then.
“After the game today, I informed Jerod Mayo that he would not be returning as the head coach of the New England Patriots in 2025,” said a statement from Patriots owner Robert Kraft. “For me, personally, this was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made.”
Mayo, 38, now will be looking for a new job.
The Bills will head into the 2024 postseason following the loss to the Pats, but will now face a new head coach in the AFC East in 2025.
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