FOXBORO — Bill Belichick took his final steps into the Patriots’ team auditorium Thursday with Robert Kraft close behind.

He climbed a short, makeshift stage at the front of the room. Then, at Kraft’s invitation, he approached a familiar brown podium to command the room one last time.

This was goodbye.

So with his first words, as he set eyes on a mixed crowd of nearly 100 reporters, team staffers and cameramen, Belichick started in the obvious place.

Tim Tebow.

“I haven’t seen this many cameras since we signed Tebow,” he cracked.

I won’t lie. I laughed. Belichick’s quip caught me off-guard, false-starting from the front row. Over the next four-plus minutes, he spoke off the cuff; smiling and candid, reflective and thankful. He even acknowledged the media, twice volunteering his respect for their work, just as he did his assistant coaches, front-office evaluators and more.

Why?

“For me, this is a day of gratitude and celebration,” he said.

If this version of Belichick surprised you, you don’t know the man quite as well as you thought you did. Belichick has long met the most significant moments with his most sincere self; from Super Bowl weeks to press conferences following the Aaron Hernandez saga and November’s trip to Germany. After 24 years, standing in the place he established himself as the greatest coach of all time, he was not going to dodge or deflect at goodbye.

Belichick could, however, have stopped short of giving Kraft the breakup he wanted. But did he? No.

Belichick instead declared they had “mutually agreed to part ways” in the first sentence of his statement; a distinction that prevents Kraft from taking a hit as the owner who allowed the greatest coach and quarterback to leave in the same four-year span. This would be a peaceful, timely and tidy split, not a messy divorce; an ending all involved and watching should root for.

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But let’s hit pause. What would motivate Belichick to part ways?

Changing teams means uprooting his family. Not just him, but his sons, Steve and Brian, who double as key coaching assistants, plus their wives and children. Staying put, at 71, in a place where he’s enjoyed almost complete power over 24 years, would have marked the easy route for Belichick.

Furthermore, Belichick’s comments on Monday — volunteering that he’s under contract — indicated he wanted to stay. Perhaps his public reminder was strictly a message to the Krafts he would dig his heels in at the first sign of being shown the door. Then again, he and the Krafts understand how coaching business is conducted in the NFL.

If you’re fired, you’re paid out. And that’s that.

Plus, at least one person close to Belichick sensed uncertainty about his future as recently as Wednesday. On Thursday, several other staffers learned of Belichick’s departure via social media, as the Herald’s Doug Kyed reported. There was a sense of denial about the building.

One staffer described their feelings to me as “struggling” with the weight of what had happened. Again, this should not surprise. The end is hard.

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And Belichick, long the sun of the Patriots’ galaxy, was now amicably collapsing on himself to allow another to take his place without notice. No doubt, he and Kraft negotiated this exit, hence the extra couple days of meetings after ownership reportedly decided to move on after the Patriots’ loss in Germany in early November.

So what did they negotiate? And what does Belichick want next? Did he have any regrets? How much longer does he plan on coaching?

None of those questions were answered because Belichick left without taking a single one. Which, of course, is what he wanted. What’s clear, however, is no matter how they landed at this decision and messaging, Belichick and Kraft arrived together.

They spoke glowingly of one another, and their achievements. They smiled and embraced. They, to used Belichick’s word, celebrated, because all the good that came from the first 20 years deserved to overshadow the last four; a time Kraft later cited as the reason he wanted to part ways.

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“Our family is the custodian of this asset – the New England Patriots – and we know how important it is to the psyche of the community. And, what’s gone on here the last three, four years isn’t what we want,” Kraft said. “So we have a responsibility to do what we can to fix it to the best of our ability.”

Thursday marked the start of that fix. Belichick is gone, leaving behind a 4-13 team starved of blue-chip roster talent with an infrastructure that needs modernizing. Belichick will coach again, and the Patriots will re-discover life without him.

The Patriot Way is no longer a promise of the past. It is the past; gone with Belichick as he walked out of the auditorium Thursday, leaving only thanks in his wake.