Just hours after their season-ending Week 18 victory over the Buffalo Bills that cost them the #1 overall pick in next spring’s NFL Draft, the New England Patriots announced that they would be firing head coach Jerod Mayo. Mayo, a linebacker with the Patriots from 2008 to 2015, was fired after just one season as the team’s head coach.
Speaking about Jerod Mayo’s firing on Monday, Stephen A. Smith made the conversation about race, wondering why the Monday after the final NFL regular season game of the year is called “Black Monday” and not “White Monday.” Mayo wasn’t even fired on Monday — he was fired on Sunday.
The term “Black Monday” comes from the 1987 stock market crash, which happened on Monday, October 19, 1987, and is essentially short-hand for a day in which people lose their jobs.
“This is about Mike Vrabel. That’s who they wanted… I don’t like this. They call it Black Monday for a reason. This certainly typifies it. I don’t know why it’s not called White Monday,” Smith said on the Monday, January 6 episode of ESPN’s First Tak.
“Doug Pederson got fired from Jacksonville. He deserved that firing. Jerod Mayo clearly was not given a lengthy enough opportunity considering what Bill Belichick left him with from a talent perspective.”
Stephen A. Smith on the Patriots firing Jerod Mayo: “This is about Mike Vrabel. That’s who they wanted… I don’t like this. They call it Black Monday for a reason. This certainly typifies it. I don’t know why it’s not called White Monday. Doug Pederson got fired from… pic.twitter.com/PsZFD7CrWR
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 6, 2025
Speaking to the media on Monday after making the decsion to fire Mayo, Patriots owner Robert Kraft attempted to take all of the blame by saying he put the rookie head coach in a difficult situation.
“This whole situation is on me. I feel terrible for Jerod because I put him in an untenable situation,” Kraft said. “I know that he has all the tools as a head coach to be successful in this league. He just needed more time before taking the job. In the end, I’m a fan of this team first, and now, I have to go out and find a coach who can get us back to the playoffs and hopefully championships.”
With the Patriots moving on from Mayo, they’re now the favorites to land former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, who played as a linebacker under Bill Belichick for the Pats from 2001 to 2008, winning three Super Bowls with the team.
In his first season as Patriots head coach, Mayo — taking over from Bill Belichick, who left him with a team largely devoid of elite talent — led the Patriots to a last place finish in the AFC East with a 4-12 record.
