Nobody else will give Borthwick and his regime a free pass though.
Whatever the result against France, this campaign, which arrived with such high hopes and has dragged through such lows, will rightly be scrutinised to find the cause of England’s underachievement.
Borthwick will have to explain his own part in it. And his Rugby Football Union bosses will have to consider whether he has any further part to play.
The former England captain is convinced he should remain in charge, replying “absolutely” when asked if he remains the right man for the job and saying he speaks regularly with his bosses to “discuss the vision of the team going forward”.
“The team’s growth in the last 12 months has been very, very strong and you can see the vision of where the team is going to be and you see the players coming through,” he added.
“Right now this is a tough period, but what we will do is learn from it and make sure we are stronger going forward.
“It is tough right now and we are not hiding away from the fact it is tough. We are not where we want to be in terms of results and in terms of performances.”
In many ways, the RFU will be reluctant to change the team’s management.
The last Rugby World Cup cycle involved late coach churn when Eddie Jones was axed less than a year out from France 2023.
While Borthwick, as his successor, guided England to within touching distance of the final, he was hamstrung by a lack of preparation.
Given time with the team, he delivered a 12-match year-long run that only ended three weeks ago.
There are plenty of potential successors and candidates for one of the biggest jobs in the sport.
Scott Robertson, sacked as All Blacks coach in January, and Franco Smith, who has driven Glasgow to new heights, have both had talks with the RFU about different roles in the past., external
Pat Lam, who has combined steel and silk at Bristol and managed admirably with a raft of injuries this season, has made no secret of his international ambitions.
If an English coach is the preference, and it was last time, then Andy Farrell and Shaun Edwards have done highly impressive work with England’s Six Nations rivals.
Phil Dowson has moulded a winning, stylish Northampton team out of many of the same players in this England squad.
All come with caveats, complications and doubts.
The trouble for the RFU is, so does the status quo.
