Steve Borthwick is to conduct a thorough review of his team to prevent England's Guinness Six Nations from unravelling further in the wake of their 42-21 mauling by Ireland at Allianz Stadium.
England followed up their emphatic defeat by Scotland in Edinburgh with another dismal performance that removes them from title contention as early as the third round.
From the moment Ireland seized a 22-0 lead inside the opening half hour, the writing was on the wall in a first loss at Twickenham since November 2024.
"It was bitterly disappointing and huge credit to Ireland, they took their chances and their kicking game was excellent," head coach Borthwick said.
"This team has been very, very good for a quite a long time in games that are tight, even if we go a score or two down, being very strong in that second half and always finding a way to win that second half.
"Unfortunately for two weeks now we have given ourselves a mountain to climb, given the opposition too many points and we have not got scoreboard presence.
"We will be looking closely at that and how I set the team up to make sure it doesn’t happen again."
George Ford drew ironic cheers from the crowd when he eventually found touch having failed to send two penalties into the stands, and he was one of many players to struggle against the Irish.
"George has done so much good for England for such a long period of time and particularly over the last spell. He was outstanding in the autumn and played really well here against Wales," Borthwick said.
Having come into the championship off the back of an impressive 2026, England had been expected to challenge France for the title.
But Borthwick insists his side were never as good as they were made out to be, just as he insists they aren't as bad as the last two weeks would suggest.
"Two weeks ago, people were talking about us being 12 wins on the bounce and saying all kinds of positive things about this team and they weren't all true," he told a press conference.
"Now, after two losses, people will be saying other things about this team. They won't be true either. The truth will be somewhere in the middle where we're a team that's got plenty of work to do. In the last two weeks, we've played against two high-quality teams and they've been better than us.
"The possessions we had close to the line, the number of breaks and half-breaks - that told me that the players were very focused on what they needed to do," he said.
It was hardly the way captain Maro Itoje wanted to mark his 100th cap.
"In the first half we turned the ball over too much, when we did get in their half we weren't clinical," Itoje said. "As players we have to own it. We have to take responsibility and make sure we're better.
"Ultimately, we weren't accurate. We got into good positions. We didn't come away with points or score. We know it's not good enough. We'll be working harder to get it right."
Additional reporting: Reuters
