Despite blowing back-to-back losses to the Cincinnati Bengals and Las Vegas Raiders, the New England Patriots still have multiple paths to the playoffs.
If you’re a Patriots fan and wondering how much more heartbreak you can endure in a season, you’d do well to fasten your seatbelt because things are going to get crazy in these final two weeks.
The good news is the team has shown flashes of greatness with a lot of bad in between. Things could get interesting if the defense, particularly the secondary, starts to get healthy.
Say whatever you want about the offensive struggles, but the Patriots defense is no picnic of an opponent—no matter who they’re facing. But can they create enough problems to give the up-and-down offense a fighting chance?
The answer to that question will ultimately decide the fate of this year’s Patriots team. Here are some playoff clinching scenarios for the team heading into the last two games of the season.
What happens with a Week 17 loss?
If the Patriots bite the dust against the Dolphins on Sunday, that would officially put an end to their playoff hopes. That would be the ninth life used up for the team that still somehow controls their own postseason destiny, despite playing with a losing record.
They’ll be at home against a Dolphins team that might not have Tua Tagovailoa under center. There really are no excuses for failing to get the job done in this matchup.
But then again, we’ve seen this Patriots team come up with the most impossible ways to lose football games.
Path 1: Win the rest of the way out
The Patriots could keep things simple for themselves by going on the ultimate revenge tour and knocking off both the Dolphins and Bills. That would create a tremendous wave of momentum and confidence heading into the postseason.
Granted, this is also the toughest and most unlikely path for the Patriots. Even if Tagovailoa doesn’t start at quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater is a solid backup with a bevy of offensive weapons at his disposal.
And the Bills have completely owned the Patriots. They’ve already blown them out once at Gillette Stadium this season. The odds of New England returning the favor in Buffalo might be slim to none at this point.
Path 2: Beat the Dolphins, but lose to the Bills
This is where things start to get crazy, and honestly, more realistic. Unless the Bills decide to throw the finale, which is certainly possible depending on how things shake out, the Patriots could find themselves on the losing end of their Week 18 road trip to Buffalo.
However, they can lose to the Bills and still get in through other means. What would have to happen for the team to lose in the regular season finale and still get into the postseason dance?
Well, they’d need both the Las Vegas Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers to at least lose one more game the rest of the way. The Steelers still have games against the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns coming up on their schedule, while the Raiders will finish out their season with meetings with the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs.
So it’s certainly possible for both of those teams to lose one more game.
Other dominos that would need to fall would be the Jacksonville Jaguars not beating the Houston Texans and then going on to lose to the Tennessee Titans. The New York Jets would also need to lose to the Seattle Seahawks but then bounce back with a win over the Dolphins. Simple enough, right?
Honestly, it would be a long-shot for all of these things to come to fruition for the Patriots. So it’s best for them to just play their best football and somehow make the first path successful.
