The high-profile divorce seemingly looming over the Patriots is shaping up to be acrimonious.

With Patriots owner Robert Kraft eager to see his team return to contender status — they will miss the playoffs for the third time in four seasons this year — rumors have swirled about the status of coach Bill Belichick, with many predicting this will be his final year with the franchise.

According to Boston Sports Journal’ Greg Bedard, those within the organization find it unlikely to legendary head coach would agree to be traded and won’t want to work with Kraft on an “elegant solution.”

“Belichick might agree to nice press release language about parting of the ways, but make no mistake: The odds are strong that this will end up being a firing at the end of the day,” Bedard wrote.

According to NBC Sports’ Tom Curran, Belichick’s fate was sealed following the 10-6 loss to the Colts in Germany on Nov. 12.

“When they came out of Germany, conversations I had that week made it very clear that a decision was made,” Curran said. “They were going to play out the string, and at the end of the year, there would be a parting of the ways for a variety of reasons.”

Belichick has one more year left on his contract, leading to speculation the 71-year-old could be traded to a coach-needy team, though Bedard’s sources don’t see that as something he’d agree to “unless there was some tweak to Belichick’s contract.”

Kraft previously viewed linebackers coach Jerod Mayo as the “heir apparent,” though the team has also been linked to Titans coach Mike Vrabel as a potential Belichick replacement.

The dark clouds of a churning rumor mill and a miserable 3-10 season led to a “glum” and “depressing” aura around the team in recent weeks, per ESPN’s Dan Graziano.

With Kraft and Belichick seemingly set to battle it out in the coming weeks, things could get a lot worse before they get any better.