The New England Patriots have spent the last several months running into the same wall, and it’s been wearing the NFC logo.
After that humiliating loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX, New England has dropped four straight games against NFC opponents. The skid began with the back-to-back defeats to Seattle in the Super Bowl and in Week 1 of the 2026 season, then continued with a Thursday night loss to Chicago in Week 7 and last week’s disappointing game against the Packers.
The last time the Patriots beat an NFC team came on December 1, 2025, when the eventual AFC Champions handled the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.
Now comes another chance to stop the slide. New England heads to Germany on Sunday morning to face the Detroit Lions, and that means another shot at an NFC opponent in a stretch that has not gone well at all.
The Patriots are already 0-2 against the NFC North this season after losses to the Bears and Packers, and Detroit will be their third game in that series. The AFC East’s scheduling draw has paired the Patriots with the entire NFC North this year, along with the AFC West, and New England has at least handled one part of that assignment. The Patriots beat the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 5.
The NFC North, though, has been a different story. The division is widely viewed as the toughest and most competitive in football, and the numbers back that up.
The four teams are 25-9 combined, with just four total losses outside the division. They also own the highest point differential of any four-team division in the NFL, sitting at a combined +145.
After the Lions, New England will finish its NFC slate against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 14.
There is at least a silver lining for the Patriots when it comes to the playoff picture. Losing to an NFC team hurts, but it carries less weight than an AFC loss when the league sorts out seeding. The NFL’s tiebreakers go in this order: overall record, head-to-head matchups, common opponents, and strength of schedule.
That matters because New England’s only AFC loss came in Week 3 at Jacksonville, and the Jaguars are heavily favored to win the AFC South, which limits the damage there. The Patriots also have a strong AFC résumé in common-opponent situations, including a valuable win over the Buffalo Bills, who have beaten every other team they’ve faced.
On top of that, New England’s schedule has been brutal. The Patriots have already faced the best division in the NFC and, by the source’s description, arguably the best division in the AFC as well. Winning the AFC East last year also put them on a first-place schedule, which brought matchups with first-place teams like the Seahawks, Jaguars, and Steelers.
If the Patriots wind up in a tiebreaker with another Wild Card contender, that strength of schedule could help them land the better seed. And with six of their last eight games coming against AFC opponents, those results figure to carry real weight.
For now, though, the focus is simple: if New England can beat Detroit on Sunday and get to the bye week at 6-4, it would be a clear sign that the Patriots are ready to keep pushing against the rest of the league.
In Other News...
Lions Munich Game Just Got A Halftime Twist Fans Will Notice
The Patriots trip to Munich already carried plenty of intrigue, and now the NFL has added a halftime act that should fit the setting. Cage The Elephant will perform during the International Series game between New England and Detroit, bringing an American rock presence to a stage the league has been using to lean into local flavor and big-event atmosphere.
The bands selection also gives the matchup a little extra texture for fans following along from afar. Cage The Elephant has built a sizable catalog with six albums and two Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album, and the league pointed to the groups ties to Germany and its rock tradition in announcing the show. For a game that already stands out on the schedule, the halftime break just became part of the draw too. [Read more 🡒]
Dan Campbell Just Raised The Stakes For Patriots In Munich
The Patriots trip to Munich already carried some extra weight, and Dan Campbell just added a little more to it. With New England set to face Detroit in Week 10, the Lions coach made it clear his team is treating the overseas matchup like a serious business trip, stressing their readiness and the plan they want to execute on Sunday.
For the Patriots, the timing is tricky. They head into Germany dealing with some missing pieces and trying to bounce back from a loss to the Packers, knowing another slip would mean a second straight defeat. Against a Detroit team that sounds intent on making the most of the moment, New England will need a cleaner performance to keep the week from turning into a bigger problem. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Have A.J. Brown Concern They Cant Ignore This Week
A.J. Browns Week 10 status is one of the bigger receiver storylines around the league, and it matters for the Patriots because it could shape how New England has to approach a matchup built around one of the NFLs most dangerous pass catchers. With Mike Evans already ruled out and several other top wideouts dealing with their own injury tags, Brown sits in a crowded group of notable names whose availability could swing game plans and coverage decisions.
For New England, the concern is simple: if Brown is active, the Patriots have to prepare for a player who changes the way defenses can line up and rotate help. He is listed as questionable along with Garrett Wilson and Amon-Ra St. Brown, while other receivers including Tank Dell, Jakobi Meyers, Rashee Rice, Deebo Samuel and George Pickens were cleared, leaving Browns status as the one to watch as the week moves on. [Read more 🡒]