FOXBORO — Nudged by a fan base bearing torches and pitchforks, and the month of bad football that both birthed this mob and changed his mind, Robert Kraft fired Jerod Mayo.

He fired Mayo, his hand-picked successor to Bill Belichick, and leapt back into the unknown; a leap that left the rest of the Patriots hanging, with the future of every coach and front-office member suspended until further notice.

With all eyes on him, Kraft must now stick the landing.

He cannot conclude the Patriots’ head-coaching search without landing old pal Mike Vrabel or Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. (Throw Brian Flores in there, too, if you aren’t as frightened by Flores denigrating and humiliating his own quarterback as the Dolphins head coach just four years ago.)

By the end of the month, Kraft should be back behind a microphone, as he was Monday explaining his decision to fire Mayo, but this time introducing his successor. If that man is anyone other than one of the best head-coaching candidates available, Kraft leapt without a parachute, and let the franchise crash and burn worse than we’ve seen already over four losing seasons in five years.

Because Kraft pulled the plug on Mayo for two reasons: he deserved to get fired, and they had better options. In the words of the great Chris Rock, a man is only as faithful as his options. Well, that goes double for football coaches, and triple for NFL owners.

Two days before Mayo received his walking papers, Vrabel interviewed for the Jets’ head-coaching job Friday. Hours before that interview, a story dropped in The Athletic detailing Vrabel’s past five months working as a consultant for the Browns. It painted Vrabel as an everyman who connects with everyone; players, coaches, executives, even townies at a Nashville bar months after he got fired in Tennessee. It artfully, and specifically, countered the only perception problem Vrabel might encounter in interviews: he’s a pain to work with.

Foxboro, MA -New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft speaks at Gillette Stadium (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)

It made him, the most appealing head-coaching candidate on the market, even more attractive. It gave Vrabel a modicum more leverage over teams, leverage that increased exponentially once the Patriots fired Mayo and cleared a way for him to come home. This was no accident.

But not so fast.

Vrabel is not the type, like Kraft, to let sentimentality blind him in business. Even by rebuild standards, the last few months have revealed the Patriots to be a sinking ship; something a new man in charge alone can’t fix. If Vrabel isn’t sufficiently compensated or wooed or empowered to turn this ship around, he might take a better offer from the Bears or elsewhere and let the Patriots continue to redefine for themselves the phrase “rock bottom.”

To stop short now, for whatever reason — salary, resources, staffing decisions — would be to commit a damning half-measure. Vrabel and Johnson are the obvious choices, and if neither wants to work with Eliot Wolf as the de facto GM, so be it. Let them pick their own partner in personnel.

And to the Vrabel skeptics, know he is no Patriot retread.

Robert Kraft reveals Patriots’ next steps in head-coaching search

In the 15 years since he left New England, Vrabel coached at Ohio State and for the Texans, Titans and Browns. He built a league-wide network, learning other systems, techniques and philosophies. And he knocked out the dynasty-era Patriots by taking the best of what he learned here with the best of what he gathered around the league.

Vrabel’s got a winning record as a head coach. Respect from players. A history of building strong staffs, including two former offensive coordinators who became head coaches. And hitting on the Patriots’ next offensive coordinator may be just as important of a hire as the head coach.

While Johnson poses more of a risk than Vrabel, if he pans out, the Patriots will effectively hit on both jobs. They will employ the best offensive mind in football to further develop and look after Drake Maye. Unlike Mayo, a fellow 38-year-old, Johnson will have spent a decade and a half working as an assistant before becoming a head coach, whenever that time comes.

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So, to the Krafts: get this done. Move fast, as promised, and hire one or the other. Because then, the hard work comes.

Upgrading all of the areas and departments that failed Mayo before he failed you.

Building out a front office replete with more experienced executives and scouts. A larger analytics department. A sizable sports science staff. A weight room with modern equipment.

Pick the head coach, the right head coach, the obvious head coach, and support him.

Put this franchise back on solid ground.