Kraft did the only thing he could do after the Jerod Mayo firing. He took blame for the "situation" and set out to fix his fallen franchise.

He fired Mayo, his hand-picked successor to Bill Belichick, and leapt back into the unknown; a leap that left the rest of the Patriots hanging, with the future of every coach and front-office member suspended until further notice. With all eyes on him, Kraft must now stick the landing.

Here we are — one year, one overmatched one-and-done Belichick successor, and you’re right back where you started from last January.