The Patriots Path to the Playoffs is Now Virtually Nonexistent

New England was helplessly grasping onto a shot at the playoffs prior to kickoff on Sunday, having held onto the AFC’s 7-seed despite sporting one of the league’s worst offenses.

Today, they are on the outside looking in – and their odds of rallying themselves into the postseason are slim according to our sports betting partners at BetOnline.ag. Here are New England’s updated odds to make the 2022 NFL playoffs:

Patriots Odds to Make the Playoffs

Yes       +450

No         -750

After Sunday’s loss to Las Vegas, the Patriots are 7-7 and will face the Bengals, Dolphins, and Bills in the final three weeks of the season. The Bengals lead the AFC North at 10-4 and have won their last six games, the Dolphins are 8-6 and have one of the best WR duos in the NFL, and Buffalo is 11-3 and has beaten the Patriots five out of the last six times they’ve played.

That’s not a great path to the playoffs, but New England looked like they didn’t even want to make the postseason on Sunday. I wrote about this in my Five Takeaways from their loss vs. the Raiders:

It doesn’t necessarily have to be Bill Belichick – but something has to change.

As I said above, New England held a playoff spot heading into this weekend – and you wouldn’t even know it if you watched them today. Stupid mistakes, false starts, and more inept play calling made it seem like they didn’t even want to be there.

Something major doesn’t just have to change going into 2023, it has to happen before the end of 2022. The fact that they just keep ramming their heads against the wall offensively is embarrassing and it gives me no reason they even want to fight for the postseason the rest of the way.

Coach Belichick blamed mistakes after the game. What he should blame is the way he’s handled the entire offensive operation from the moment Josh McDaniels left Logan Airport to become the head coach of the Raiders – the team that embarrassed his franchise on Sunday afternoon.

The Patriots now need an abundance of help mixed into their attempt at running the table – which starts with the Bengals on Christmas Eve.

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