New England Patriots' longtime owner Robert Kraft was pointing the finger at himself after another 4-13 season, while explaining his firing of Jerod Mayo.

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.

Robert Kraft showed no shame in taking full ownership of how New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo's first and only season at the helm shook out. Kraft, the New England Patriots CEO and Chairman, addressed the press on Monday to discuss the firing of Mayo along with fielding questions on other topics within the organization.

The fact that Vrabel was available made the best choice an easy one. Kraft hasn’t run an actual coaching search since 1997 when he hired Pete Carroll. The two hires that followed — Bill Belichick in 2000 and Jerod Mayo last year — were both examples of Kraft selecting people who he already knew, liked and trusted.

Watch Patriots CEO and chairman Robert Kraft's press conference after decision to fire New England head coach Jerod Mayo.

The Patriots turned to Vrabel after their quick coaching search wrapped up just seven days after the team fired Jerod Mayo.

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.

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.

Robert Kraft said he put Jerod Mayo in an "untenable" situation with the Patriots, but the owner still felt that he had to move on from the coach.

After trying to move on from the Bill Belichick era, the Patriots are now going right back to a successor much more like him.

During a midday press conference Monday, the Patriots’ owner said the team has already extended multiple interview requests to head-coaching candidates. Kraft, team president Jonathan Kraft, executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith will conduct the interviews.