Patriots Coach Ivan Fears Makes Big Admission On Patriots’ 2020 Season

The New England Patriots didn’t really have the best year, but things can change overnight. There’s still a chance for the team to make the playoffs. Of course, this depends on many other factors. Patriots running backs coach Ivan Fears has a simple admission, and some NFL experts will agree on this one.

The team had to deal with a pandemic, long injury reports, and personal tragedies. Coach Fears talked about the struggles his group had and the general problems that plagued the team.

“It’s probably the craziest year I’ve ever been around,” Fears said Friday in a conference call. He is part of the Patriots family since 1991.

Patriots coach Ivan Fears is honest

The team had to deal with an outbreak in October. Eight players ended up on the covid list. Players struggled to win and lost four straight games following their 2-1 start.

Cam Newton tested positive and running back James white lost his father in a car accident. Markus Paul died at 54 last month. It was too much to handle, and Fears summed it up perfectly.

“As far as some of the stuff that’s happened on the field and off the field, some of the things that have happened to me personally with friends like Markus and James’s situation, and with the COVID, it has been extremely hard just to focus in on playing football and enjoying the football season,” said Fears.

“It’s been just the opposite. It’s been a real challenge. I thought the guys have done a great job of trying to deal with the COVID protocols and all the stuff that goes on with it and the threat — the threat of health problems and the threat of bringing that home to your family and worrying about what other guys are doing. Are they putting you at risk?

“It’s just a tremendous amount of stuff that surrounds the game. Just being able to play the game is kind of fun compared to all the other stuff we go through to get to the game and to prepare for a game.”

When it comes to injuries, Sony Michel missed seven games due to his quad injury. He tested positive for coronavirus, too. Damien Harris was added to IR at the beginning of the regular season. Rex Burkhead finished his season in Week 11.

New England has a 6-7 record, and that’s the worst record since 2002. They broke a record of 17 straight seasons with double-digit wins. From what we can see, many predict that the Patriots will miss the playoffs too.