After the New England Patriots were stunned by the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LI on Sunday night, it signaled the likely end of an era that included Josh McDaniels leading the Patriots’ offense as offensive coordinator and Matt Patricia guiding the defense as defensive coordinator. 

Indeed, Patricia was officially tabbed as the new leader of the Detroit Lions by the following morning, Feb. 5, and by 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6 the Indianapolis Colts had announced McDaniels had agreed to to be the new head coach in Indianapolis. 

Not only did the Colts announce McDaniels would take over the organization’s head coaching duties, but they announced less than six hours later the information for the press conference. 

But by 7:34 p.m., social media and sports shows around the country were ablaze when Adam Schefter of ESPN announced that McDaniels had a change of heart and instead will roam the New England sidelines in 2018 as a member of the Patriots. 

Schefter reported Patriots owner Robert Kraft “began talking with McDaniels and ultimately wound up sweetening his contract” and noted McDaniels had yet to sign a contract with Indianapolis. 

Schefter announced roughly an hour after his initial report that the Colts had in fact called off the Wednesday introductory press conference for McDaniels. 

Perhaps McDaniels will secretly hold the title of head coach in-waiting and will secretly be groomed further to take over for Bill Belichick whenever Belichick opts to step away. 

For the record, ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss has reported that Belichick is “locked in” as the New England head coach for the 2018 season. 

Reiss also reported shortly after Schefter’s report that family stability played a huge role in MCDaniels’ decision to remain in Massachusetts. 

And who could blame McDaniels? 

Family stability is important in any situation Foxborough is a much more familiar area to the McDaniels family than Indianapolis. 

Not to mention, New England’s offense is one of the best in the entire league. 

McDaniels made the right decision to remain with the Patriots and will certainly reap the benefits of his decision over the next few years. 

The Patriots have excellent chances to make additional Super Bowl appearances over the next few years, and perhaps will do so with McDaniels, not Belichick, as the head coach. 

In the end, not much will be different in the coming weeks for New England fans. 

Josh McDaniels will still be the team’s offensive coordinator working with Tom Brady and the rest of the league, and even more so the Colts, will despite the Patriots. 

The main difference is that Patricia will no longer be leading the defense in Foxborough. 

And, no, there will be no same change of heart for Patricia. 

The Patriots already have a successor in mind with either Greg Schiano or Brian Flores being tabbed as the new defensive coordinator.

Schiano is presently the Ohio State University defensive coordinator, while Flores serves as the linebackers coach for the Patriots. 

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The above is an opinion piece from Penobscot Bay Pilot sports reporter George Harvey. Reach George and the sports department at: sports@penbaypilot.com.