Patriots to finish with losing record for third time in last four years

Their 10-7 defeat at the hands of the New York Giants has made it official: the New England Patriots , who have now dropped to 2-9 on the year, will finish the 2023 regular season with a losing record.

This will mark the third time in the last four years that the team has been unable to reach winning territory. They went 7-9 in 2020, followed by a 10-7 campaign the following season. While the arrow appeared to be pointing up, New England dropped to 8-9 in 2022 and is now headed for its worst record of at least the last 23 seasons.

“It’s frustrating,” team captain David Andrews said after the loss to the Giants. “It’s frustrating because you don’t know how many opportunities you’re going to get.”

The Patriots’ recent lack of success stands in stark contrast to the previous two decades, when they did not finish below .500 in 19 straight years — including six seasons that ended with a Super Bowl win. Since the departure of long-time starting quarterback Tom Brady during the 2020 offseason, however, the team has struggled to stay competitive.

Even including its 2021 campaign, which ended with a one-and-done playoff performance, New England is now only 27-34 in its last 61 regular season games of the post-Brady era. Quarterback play is not the only reason for the regression, but it does have a big role in it.

The Patriots first used Cam Newton to help replace Brady, followed by three years of Mac Jones. However, neither has been able to prove himself a viable long-term option; it seems New England is headed back to the drawing board at the most important position this coming offseason — one that might just see the team hold a top-3 selection in the draft.

For Andrews, meanwhile, the goal is to just finish the season as well as possible.

“There’s a lot of life lessons, a lot of things you can learn,” he said. “And the season’s not over yet. We’ll keep fighting. I’ll be out there, keep practicing, keep working, that’s all I can do. Hope we can bring the team along and get everybody to do that for whatever the remainder of the season is.”