Patriots Could End Six-Year Drought After Bills' Loss

"With the Bills' loss last night, the Patriots are up to a 90 percent(!) chance at hosting a playoff game, per 's postseason predictor." The Athletic's Chad Graff, who covers the Patriots for the publication, wrote.

Per The Athletic's playoff simulator, the Patriots have a greater than 99% chance of making the playoffs, and a 91% chance of winning the division.

Those probabilities are split approximately equally between being the number one seed (44%) — and thus getting a bye straight into the Divisional Round of the playoffs — and hosting a Wild Card game (47%).

New England Looking to Break Long Streak

The Patriots have not won the division and hosted a playoff game since the 2019 season, when they lost to the Tennessee Titans in the Wild Card, with Tom Brady getting picked off by former defensive back, Logan Ryan.

They have not received a first round bye since the 2018 season, when they came second in the AFC behind the Kansas City Chiefs, prior to the postseason format change that saw just one team obtain the bye.

This hardly means that New England have a home playoff game in the bag; the team still has to go up against difficult opponents like the Baltimore Ravens and the Bills, but the rest of the remaining schedule looks mercifully forthcoming, even if Joe Burrow does end up starting for the Bengals.

Mike Vrabel and co. have a more-than-winnable set of three games in weeks 13, 17 and 18 against the New York Giants, New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.

The main thing left to do now is to consolidate their lead at the helm of their division and ensure that they come away from the regular season in a strong position heading into the playoffs.