The New England Patriots aren’t led by Bill Belichick or Tom Brady anymore but if a time traveler from 2007 glanced at the 2025-26 standings they’d certainly think that was still the case.
After thumping the New York Jets 27-14 in Week 11, New England is on to Cincinnati to face the Bengals who will be without multiple top playmakers.
Quarterback Joe Burrow has been dealing with a serious turf toe injury that’s kept him out several weeks and now wideout Ja’Marr Chase will miss the Week 12 clash due to suspension. The four-time Pro Bowler was disciplined by the league for spitting on Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jalen Ramsey mid-game on Sunday.
That’s a mighty lucky break for the Patriots who have seemingly not played many challenging opponents so far this year. It’ll be one less serious threat for the New England secondary to worry about while on the road.
At 9-2, the Patriots top the AFC East division and are inching ever closer to clinching the No. 1 seed in the conference playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season. Their resurgence, which includes an eight-game winning streak, has come with the obvious return of the franchise’s haters, claiming the Pats are overrated.
This time, those haters may have a point. Through 11 games, the Patriots have only played three teams that are currently in the playoff picture. They beat two of them, to be fair, but the rest of the schedule is rather lacking in serious competition.
Quarterback Drake Maye has benefitted from that schedule the most. His 2,836 passing yards lead the league and he’s third in passing touchdowns (20). Playing against soft secondaries certainly helped in padding those stats.
They look poised to reach 11-2 by their Week 14 bye by way of a heavily handicapped Cincinnati team and a New York Giants squad that can’t seem play more than three quarters of football.
By that time, with four games remaining, the Patriots may have clinched a playoff spot or will certainly be on the cusp. Two of those final games are against playoff contenders (Buffalo and Baltimore) but they finish the year off with rematches against the Jets and Miami Dolphins.
That means less than a third of New England’s schedule was against playoff contending teams. If there’s any argument to be made for an overrated team in the AFC, the Patriots fit the bill.
The Kansas City Chiefs are watching their season slip away as they fall further from a playoff spot, and Patrick Mahomes could be seeing a personal accolade going with it.
The Chiefs looked to rebound from their loss to the Buffalo Bills, getting a bye week to prepare for a critical divisional matchup with the Denver Broncos. But the Chiefs struggled to find consistency on offense and stalled out at the end of the game, allowing the Broncos to get a come-from-behind win.
The 22-19 loss may have sealed any hopes of another division title, while also putting a third MVP award out of reach for Mahomes.
Mahomes was briefly seen as a frontrunner for the MVP award after leading the Chiefs to five wins in six games, but the team has since hit a wall. Back-to-back losses dropped them to 5-5, while Mahomes fell to fifth place on the MVP ladder.
USA Today reporter Jack McKessy noted that Mahomes now ranks behind favorite Matthew Stafford as well as Drake Maye, Josh Allen, and Jonathan Taylor in the latest MVP odds.
“Mahomes’ odds to win a third MVP award dipped in Week 11,” McKessy wrote. “The Chiefs’ offense struggled against the Broncos’ mighty defense in the loss on the road. Kansas City’s quarterback finished the game 29-of-45 for 276 yards, one touchdown and an interception.”
Allen was behind Mahomes going into Week 11, but his six-touchdown performance in a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vaulted him ahead of the Chiefs quarterback — while the win made it even more difficult for Kansas City to compete for a postseason berth.
Mahomes put the blame on himself for Sunday’s loss, saying he needs to be more consistent. He threw an interception and watched the team go three-and-out on each of their final two drives, giving the Broncos chances to tie and then win the game with field-goal drives.
Mahomes said his inability to make throws has been killing drives.
“I think we’re really talented and we’ve got a lot of great players, but it’s about being more consistent. I think it starts with me,” Mahomes told reporters after the game, via SI.com. “There’s times where I’m firing and we’re moving the ball down the field at ease. But there’s times where we go in spurts where I miss a throw or a [pass] protection call.
“We haven’t been consistent enough to win games. It starts with me.”
The Chiefs — seen briefly as Super Bowl favorites after getting back to 5-3 — will now face a challenge in climbing back into the playoff picture. The loss dropped them four wins behind the Broncos for the lead in the AFC West and created a difficult path to a wild-card spot. All three teams currently holding wild cards — Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Chargers, and Jacksonville Jaguars — have beaten the Chiefs.
The Chiefs also currently lose the conference tie-breaker to the Houston Texans, the next team back from a playoff spot at 5-5.