Bill Belichick met with the media on Monday morning and answered questions regarding this past season and his future with the organization. Belichick was candid in his assessment of this past season and how it was a failure. He sounded like a coach who was planning on returning, reiterating that he is under contract next season and that he will do his job.

By the end of the press conference it was abundantly clear that he was putting the ball in the Krafts court when it comes to his future with the organization.

Belichick’s opening statement was similar to what he said after the game yesterday. The season did not live up to the standard set previously and that things need to be fixed moving forward.

“I’ll kind of follow up on a couple things from yesterday. As I said, it was obviously a very disappointing season all the way around. Players, coaches, staff, organization, everybody is not anywhere close to what our standard and expectations are. So, obviously, things need to be fixed.”

When asked how much he wants to fix the current situation with the Patriots, Belichick reiterated that he answered that question  and then elaborated on his previous response.

”I just opened with that. I’m going to do everything I can every day to do the best I can to help our football team. That’s what I’ve always done. It’s never been any different for me in my career. I learned that lesson from my dad growing up. You work for the team that you’re working for and do the best you can for it, until somebody tells you different. So, that’s not going to change.”

Belichick is preceding with business as usual until he is told otherwise, which is not a surprise given his personality and approach to the job.

Perhaps the most surprising answer Belichick gave was when he was asked if he would consider relinquishing personnel control. I honestly did not expect him to give an honest answer to this question. This was about as honest as he could be in terms of a response.

“Yeah, look, I’m for whatever, collectively, we decide as an organization is the best thing to help our football team. And, I have multiple roles in that, and I rely on a lot of people to help me in those responsibilities. If somebody’s got to have the final say, I rely on a lot of other people to help. And, however that process is, I’m only part of it.”

He did not say he would give up personnel control but saying that he is for “whatever we decide collectively” tells me that he would consider not having final say and that he would be willing to work with a restructured front office depending on who is in charge.

As for whether or not he would be surprised if Robert Kraft decided to part ways and if he could see himself elsewhere, Belichick gave standard responses to those questions.

“Yeah, I’m going to focus on what I can control and focus on, and that’s my work ethic and my effort to do what I can to help the Patriots organization, which I’m heavily invested in.” Belichick added: “Yeah, I’m not going to get into a lot of hypothetical situations.”

Belichick would not elaborate if he and the Krafts have met yet.

“Yeah, I’ll leave all that out. It might be a series of meetings. I don’t know. We’ll deal with that internally.” Belichick did say however that he met with Robert Kraft during 

So what does this all mean. It means that Belichick is plowing ahead with the running the organization until he meets with Kraft and a decision is made. Based on what we heard today, I still think it is 50/50 that he is back next season. I know that may sound like a cop out but I am not convinced the Krafts want to move on.

Either way, we should get some clarity this week. For now, no one seems to know what is going to happen, locally or nationally. One thing we do know, the ball is now squarely in the Kraft’s court as to what happens next.