The Patriots have done the unthinkable. They lost two games in a row. In December. Ugh.

On Sunday the 16 matchup against the Steelers, the pats had 14 penalties for a whopping 106 yards. The game came down to the final possession, but Brady was unable to cook up his normal two-minute drill, and the Steelers held on to win 17-10.

The previous week, we lost another heartbreaker to the Dolphins, a team we seem to lose to every year in December in Miami. I don’t really want to go into details, but it was painful for every football fan across New England. No wonder Goodell keeps scheduling those games.

The Patriots are now 3-5 on the road, slotted to be the third seed in the AFC postseason. I don’t even know what it’s like to play on wild card weekend. The last time it happened, I was in second grade. Yes, we have had a first round bye every single year since 2009.

All of this begs the question: how far can the pats go this postseason? My answer is that it’s all up to them. They’ve proven that they can beat the two teams in front of them, Kansas City and Houston, but the question is whether or not they beat themselves. This past Sunday, New England was 3-10 on third down, and our top two receivers (Edelman and Gordon) combined for three drops. If you add the penalties into that equation, it’s a team that won’t be playing far into January.

With all this being said, I’m still confident. We have Tom under center and Bill on the sidelines, and that’s a winning combination. Interesting stat: in every single season of Rob Gronkowski’s career other than his rookie season of 2011, the Patriots have played in the AFC championship game. I don’t expect that stat to change at the end of this year. Keeping that in mind, I’d love to face Pittsburgh, Baltimore, or any other wild card team in the conference championship because Gillette would be a much easier venue to win in than Arrowhead or NRG.

That pretty much wraps up how I feel about the Patriots of late. These losses are unacceptable, there are areas that need improvement, but overall I’m confident that we can get it together in the postseason. All we need is two more AFC East victories, and we’re on to the playoffs.