Patriots Miss Playoffs For First Time In More Than A Decade

Patriots Miss Playoffs For First Time In More Than A Decade

The NFL playoffs and New England Patriots has been synonymous. When you talk NFL postseason and Super Bowl contenders, you’ve always had to include those Pats in the mix. At least since 2009. That’s when the playoff streak started. Up until this season, they’d make the playoffs each year since.

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Now, for the first time since the 2008 NFL Playoffs, you won’t see the Patriots there.

The end of an era. At least for the time being, as the Pats reshape their identity after losing Tom Brady to the Bucs (where he’s still killin’ it by the way, if you haven’t heard by now). Brady also still has Gronk. Those two have been interconnected for some time with the Patriots, as well. So, to see them in red and black in Tampa, I’m sure it’s taken some time for fans to get used to.

But, as the Bucs get used to winning, the Pats are experiencing what it’s like to miss the playoffs for the first time in what seems like so long (12 years long, Brady’s jersey number-long, to be exact).

It’s not like the Patriots were down and out this year, though. They still had Bill Belichick and a former NFL MVP in Cam Newton to replace Brady. But, it takes time for a team to get adjusted and acclimated to a new quarterback and molding around him in a system that was built around another quarterback for almost two decades.

All the winning equated to a certain Patriots’ standard and Newton knows what that “standard” is, penning a post to Patriot nation saying the year has been unacceptable:

And, to be fair, Newton was placed on the COVD-19/Reserve list, per the NFL, this season. So the Pats were dealing with some adversity. And it’s nothing they can’t overcome in 2021.

It’s just in the meantime, all of us will be watching a AFC playoffs and a 2021 Super Bowl with (Not the Patriots) vs (another team). For all those who didn’t want to see another Pats champion, well you can’t hate on greatness, you got to give props for a team that had that amount of sustainable success. That’s incredibly tough to do and replicate year-after-year. Training after training. Practice after practice. Super Bowl after Super Bowl. That consistent success is admirable and I’m sure you wish your team could amount to that.

Give credit to where credit is due, so shout out to the Pats for 12 straight years in the playoffs (the deflate gate and spy gate are separate conversations for another day). Thi is just solely about saying congrats to a great run. And it’s not like it was just these 12 years. Look at all their other playoff appearances. There was a bunch in the 2000’s, 1990’s, and even a few in the 1980’s and further back, as well.

So, this Lions fan who just recently experienced what it was like to be a ‘Detroit Patriots’ fan with former Patriots coaching and playing for my team, the Lions. It didn’t work in the Motor City but it worked great up in New England. Pats fans, now you can know what it’s like for the rest of us who haven’t seen the playoffs in literal decades.

Here’s to next year’s playoffs. From a Lions fan who also isn’t seeing the playoffs this year, either. Of course, I have hope we will get there. One day.