FRANKFURT, Germany —  You don’t bench a quarterback you believe in.

You hand him the keys at the end of the game, and trust him to drive to victory.

Instead, Bill Belichick ripped them away from Mac Jones and tossed them to Bailey Zappe.

Forget what Zappe did in the ensuing moments or what Belichick said later. That moment spoke loudest about Jones’ future in New England: the Patriots coaching staff has no faith in him.

Judging by players’ post-game comments, and whispers over the last month, the locker room would be open to a long-term change. So if they don’t believe in Jones, why should you?

Jones turns the ball over. He makes poor decisions before and after the snap. His strengths — quick processing and decision-making — have rapidly deteriorated into weaknesses this season.

This should be clear as day.

Instead, the Jones conversation has been convoluted by bad framing; fans and media alike dealing in false binaries that complicate what should be a straightforward talk after two and a half seasons.

Stop asking if the Patriots’ offensive woes are Jones’ fault or his supporting cast’s. Or debating whether the Patriots have failed Jones or if Jones has failed them. At 2-8, the truth is staring at you in the face.

They’ve all failed. Blame belongs to everyone. And that includes Jones; a panicky, pocket-bound point guard with one of the highest turnover rates in the league, unthreatening arm talent and an inability to carry his offense.

We know this because it’s possible to isolate enough of Jones’ performance from his surroundings. Take his final throw in Frankfurt.

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The Patriots had run four straight times, keeping the ball out of Jones’ hands — and therefore out of danger — as they drove to the Colts’ 15. Bill O’Brien then called a play-action pass that successfully sprung Mike Gesicki behind a fooled Indianapolis defense. But because a Colts pass rusher closed within three yards of him, Jones self-destructed.

He fell away from the play, fired off his back foot and underthrew Gesicki by four yards. A gift-wrapped interception, if there ever was one. All it was missing was a bow.

The pick was akin to blowing a go-ahead layup that doesn’t even hit rim and falls out of bounds in the final minute. Jones confessed post-game to making a “terrible throw.”

Sound familiar?

This was his explanation after chucking another red-zone pick in Miami two weeks ago: “I just made a bad throw really late.”

And in Las Vegas, where he killed another rare drive into enemy territory in mid-October: “I didn’t make a good throw. Just trying to do too much.”

That Raiders loss followed a stretch where Jones had tossed zero touchdowns and a combined four interceptions in back-to-back games versus New Orleans and Dallas. Bill Belichick benched him in both of those games. Sunday’s sitdown marked three on the season, the same number Cam Newton took in 2020, arguably the worst season by a Patriots quarterback in 25-30 years.

Bill Belichick not committing to Patriots QB Mac Jones after third benching

Jones is tracking to out-stink Newton with superior weapons and a worse offensive line. This is not a case of an offense crumbling around a quarterback. Jones is imploding with the rest of the operation.

He may one day prove to be a starting-caliber quarterback, but it won’t be in New England. Bill O’Brien hasn’t fixed him and finally cracked on the sideline Sunday, lighting into Jones after the Pats’ initial drive of the second half. Under O’Brien’s tutelage, Jones still can’t throw deep and ranks among the league’s worst players under pressure for a second straight year, per Pro Football Focus.

The pressure problem neither explains’ Jones struggles nor falls entirely on the offensive line. Three weeks ago against Buffalo, Jones unleashed the ball in an average of 2.19 seconds after the snap, the fastest in the NFL that week, and faced a pressure rate of 21.2%. He played his best game of the season.

Two weeks later, he held the ball a tad longer against Washington, yet dealt with pressure on just 19% of his dropbacks. That day, Jones completed barely half his passes for 220 yards, one touchdown and a pick versus one of the NFL’s worst pass defenses.

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The truth is Belichick would have replaced Jones weeks ago if he believed he had a viable backup. If Belichick starts him again after the bye week, a player he’s benched three times for nuking the team’s chances in all of those games, what message does that send to the locker room? Is there no consequence for such a performance?

Granted, Bailey Zappe’s interception — an all-time display of mind-boggling football decision-making —  was atrocious. He was a bonehead’s bonehead. But who did that play remind you of?

Jones.

He isn’t changing. Neither is this offense nor the fact this Patriots season is heading into the sewer. There is nothing to be gained from starting Jones any longer. Give Zappe a chance to simply not screw it up.

Handing Zappe or even third-stringer Will Grier starting reps at least allows the staff to learn whether it has one backup on the roster, and tell the rest of the team such damaging play won’t be tolerated. Belichick said it best when explaining his decision to bench Jones on Sunday.

“I thought it was time for a change,” he said.

That should mean for good.