Bill Belichick is probably at his wits’ end now. His debut college football season saw him suffer his fourth consecutive loss. With all the terminations across college football, you can’t help but wonder about Belichick’s job security. Moreover, after week 9, one consistent problem that has plagued UNC is now where you can’t ignore it. Similarly, the 6x Super Bowl-winning coach sent an earnest message to Gio Lopez, who has yet to operate at 100%.

Bill Belichick has got to get his offense to start swinging. The unit has become abysmal in scoring and ranks near the bottom in scoring offense. Only 15 TDs have come through a series of seven games. The head coach finally admitted that this area demands some serious rework. According to Noah Weiskopf, UNC’s beat writer, Belichick said, “We have to score more points. You don’t get points for just moving the ball.”

In the current losing streak, UNC has scored less than 20 points. Before that, TCU crushed the team with 48-14. However, one of the players on the roster, Gio Lopez, has yet to unleash his full potential. He also struggles when it comes to moving the ball quickly and making deep ball passes. The Tar Heels QB1 tends to play rather conservatively. Despite throwing 208 yards in the game, Lopez still preferred to pass to receivers near him rather than going deep.

In the Virginia game, Lopez relied on seven targets, including RBs. So far, these targets must compensate for those short passes by running the ball further. Beyond the line of scrimmage, Lopez has an accuracy rate of 56.6% and averages just 6.57 yards per attempt. He’s also scoreless and has recorded all of his interceptions so far this way. Downfield passing is now a serious problem for Gio Lopez.

We don’t have to look beyond the Virginia game for an example. In the third quarter, Gio Lopez went for a massive throw to RB Davion Gause, who had reached the 10-yard line on the opposite side. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hang on. Lopez wants to get the ball down the field. But he and the offense haven’t translated that into games.

Another troubling stat is that Gio Lopez and Co. cannot move in the second half of games. The offense could only bring in 82 offensive yards in the second half against the Cavaliers. Moreover, the Tar Heels have gone scoreless in every single loss in the third and fourth quarters. In summary, everything’s going wrong for the Tar Heels.

Lopez knows that it’s now his responsibility to come back stronger. “It’s on us and that’s how we feel. … For us, it’s not a comfort thing, but just an urgency thing to get it right and get better,” he said at a presser. Lopez’s success is crucial for Bill Belichick. If that doesn’t happen, he’s looking at another blot on his shining resume.

Tar Heels’ skid marks derail Bill Belichick’s UNC career

Notably, North Carolina’s offensive flaws have caused Belichick to register his fourth-worst losing streak after the Virginia loss. Belichick recorded five losses over two seasons during the 1991 and 1992 seasons at Cleveland (3 at the end of ’91 and two at the beginning of the ’92 season). He followed it up with 6 in 1995, also at Cleveland. And then, his third-worst came in 2023 (5 games), his last year coaching the Patriots. If Belichick loses four more games, 2025 at North Carolina will be his worst losing streak.

Nobody thought that those woes would follow him to Chapel Hill. The UNC top brass was expecting a miracle with the veteran coach taking control. Bill Belichick will have to play Syracuse, Stanford, and Wake Forest. Moreover, two more losses will kick UNC out of the hope of a bowl game. With Duke and NC State lined up, the writing’s on the wall.

Bill Belichick has got to turn around this offense now. He knows where the obstacles are, and so does Gio Lopez. They need it to salvage North Carolina’s reputation after this regrettable season. Lopez has to become brave, and Belichick should push his team to the moon to take some positives.