Patriots officially eliminated from playoff contention in Week 14
It's the earliest a Patriots team has been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs since 2000.
An inevitable result was finally realized Sunday afternoon for the 2023 Patriots.
Despite beating the Steelers, 21-18, on Thursday night, New England’s razor-thin odds of punching its ticket to the 2024 playoffs were snuffed out days later — with the Patriots officially eliminated from postseason contention due to the Cincinnati Bengals’ 34-14 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
The 3-10 Patriots were eliminated with four weeks remaining in the regular season. According to NFL Research, it’s the earliest a Patriots team has been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs since 2000. That was Bill Belichick’s first year at the helm of the franchise, with New England ultimately finishing with a 5-11 record that year.
New England has now missed the postseason for the third time in the last four years. Their lone playoff berth during the post-Brady era was short-lived, with Mac Jones and the Patriots losing to the Bills, 47-17, in the 2021 AFC Wild Card Round.
Even with their spot at the bottom of the AFC standings, the Patriots had a convoluted path to the playoffs as late as Sunday morning — with New England potentially making the postseason at 7-10 and several teams falling into extended losing streaks.
Everything that could have gone wrong seemingly has for Belichick and his team in 2023, with most of their struggles centered on the offensive side of the ball. Jones lost his starting job at quarterback after getting benched four times in 11 games, while New England’s offensive line has largely been a sieve.
Add in several critical injuries to players like Christian Gonzalez, Matthew Judon, and Kendrick Bourne, a dearth of proven playmakers and the years of poor drafting, and the Patriots have a long way to go toward reasserting themselves as a top power in the AFC.
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