Going into Sunday, it had been 83 days since the Patriots (11-3) had lost their last game - a Week 3 loss at home to the Steelers where New England gave the game away late.
Since then, it had been 10 consecutive wins, most of which coming against the dregs of the league, allowing the Patriots to vault themselves into the discussion for potentially securing the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC as the team marches towards its first playoff appearance since 2021.
A win on Sunday would have given the Patriots their first single-season win streak of at least 11 regular season games since 2007, as well as their first AFC East title since 2019.
Neither one of those things happened, as New England fell at home for the third time this season, blowing a 21-0 lead over the Bills (10-4) and losing to the five-time defending division champions 35-31.
That division championship will now have to wait until Week 18, as the Patriots must beat both the Jets (3-11) and Dolphins (6-7) in consecutive weeks to wrap up the AFC East title.
And with a tough Sunday Night Football game in Baltimore (7-7) on the docket in Week 16 before the soft final two weeks of their regular season, every game remaining on the Patriots’ schedule is meaningful down the stretch run of this 2025 campaign.
Could suffering a loss at this point in the season be a good thing for the Patriots?
Head coach Mike Vrabel was asked as much on The Greg Hill Show on Monday morning.
“Well, I think that it can be an opportunity that we have to learn from,” said Vrabel. “I've tried to stay consistent in my messaging and what we'll do. And we'll take a look at all the good stuff, and we'll have to fix the stuff that gets us beat, and we'll have to talk to these guys about making great in-game decisions and all the details and the techniques and the things that cost us, and try to get back and get healthy and get back on the road and win a game.”
“After the game, the guys were upset, but weren't beating themselves up too badly, and Jaylinn Hawkins said that came from your messaging to the team after,” said WEEI’s Courtney Cox. “What was your main message to them after a loss like that?”
“This is - we gotta pick the pieces back up, and we're 11-3, and we're gonna work our asses off to be 12-3. And I love coaching these guys, and it's not perfect, and none of us are, and this happens in the National Football League.
“It's [been] 83 days since we lost - 83 days, and it was a good run, and we have to start another one. We got to get back to work here and practice. But yeah, we will. We got a bunch of good dudes.”
As many around New England have heard over the last 18 years, a late-regular season loss in 2007 ahead of their Super Bowl XLII loss to the Giants could have gone a long way for a group so focused on remaining perfect that it may inevitably cost them a ring.
Is this group the 2007 Patriots? Absolutely not.
Drake Maye might be an MVP candidate, but he’s not ’07 Brady (not yet, at least). And there’s no one on this roster in the same stratosphere as ’07 Randy Moss - or ’07 Wes Welker, for that matter.
With that being said, the point still stands.
A late-season loss can be a helpful reset for a team that’s enjoying success - a reminder of what still needs to be improved on before heading into the playoffs.
With the Chiefs (6-8) officially eliminated from postseason contention, the AFC has never looked more wide open. The scariest opponent in the conference may just be the one that beat you on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, and that’s a team that you already beat at their place earlier this season.
If Vrabel is the type of head coach we all think he is, this loss will be the red meat needed for his coaching staff to get his team primed and ready to go for the type of playoff run New England hasn’t seen since 2018.
As we mentioned, they’ll have a great chance to show right away if lessons were learned in Week 16 down in Baltimore, as the Patriots are currently 2.5-point underdogs, per OddsTrader. You can get them at +130 on the moneyline, and the total sits at 47.5.
Tune in each and every Monday throughout the football season to Patriots Monday on WEEI. Head coach Mike Vrabel joins The Greg Hill Show at 6:30 a.m. ET, and quarterback Drake Maye joins WEEI Afternoons.