Last season, the Patriots demolished the Chargers 45-0 on December 6 to get to 6-6. Then they got outscored 74-24 by the Rams, Bills and Dolphins over their next three. They beat the Bills handily in Week 17.
In 2019, they were 10-1 going to December. They got dismissed easily by the Texans and Chiefs. They beat up on the Bengals and Bills. Then got stunned by the Dolphins in the season finale and dusted by Tennessee in the playoffs.
The weird thing is, they’re not just losing these late-season games. Frequently, they’re getting demolished, especially in the first 30 minutes or 20.
This year, it was down 20-0 to Indy, 20-7 to Buffalo and 17-0 to Miami before getting down 27-0 to the Bills by halftime Saturday night.
In 2020, they got down 17-0 to the Rams and 24-9 to the Bills. They did have a 6-0 halftime lead over Miami before succumbing, 24-12.
In 2019, they fell behind Houston 21-3 and 23-7 against the Chiefs in back-to-back weeks. The losses to Miami and the playoff loss to Tennessee were tight the whole way.
You can even go back to 2018 and see back-to-back December losses to Miami (
the Miami Miracle) and Pittsburgh that dropped the Patriots to 9-5 before they got right against the Bills and Jets in the final two weeks and rode that wave into the postseason to win a Super Bowl.