When Robert Kraft hired Jerod Mayo a year ago, he felt he’d identified the right person to follow Bill Belichick.

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.

Mayo, named Bill Belichick’s successor a year ago, was fired on Sunday after the Patriots’ 23-16 win over the Bills in the regular-season finale. The former Patriots linebacker, 38, posted a 4-13 record as head coach. Kraft added Monday he “went back and forth” on the situation over the past month.