It's no secret why this team hasn't won a super bowl in the last 5 years? They haven't been able to replace the players they lose. It's that simple. Their secondary has been a mess for years and their LB's have been almost as bad since 2005. Why is that? Why is taking the Pats so long to fill their most glaring needs? With the core group of players that they have, their needs should've been taken care of by now. It's been 5 years and their defense still isn't very good. Now take into account that their offense is struggling shows their team is regressing. It's a shame because the Pats had something special.
Though the loss of key players has had a role in the current issues with the Pats. I think the larger culprit is the brain drain out of the coaching and front office staffs. in the past 5 years we have lost:
Weiss
Crennel
Mangini (plus the lower level assistants he poached)
Demitroff
McDaniels
Pioli
Say what you will about Mangini as a head coach but he was a talented assistant.
Because of the loss of the highly qualified coaches and front office personnel BB has promoted from within and some of those replacements are still getting OJT.
The Pats have for the most part replaced talent with talent in regards to the player transaction, though there has been a loss of locker room leadership on defense. This is mostly due to the relative youth of the D and players like Chung may grow to replace players like Rodney eventually. The exception to this is obviously in the pass rush.
I would also like to remind everyone that winning the Super Bowl is not a birthright and our 5 year "drought," 2 years removed from a near perfect season, is a situation the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams fans would love to be in.
We are lucky fans and should enjoy this ride because it will seem all too short once it is over, just ask Dallas and SF fans.