Patriots fans are going to love Tony Romo’s prediction for New England in 2021

CBS color analyst Tony Romo has a promising prediction for the Patriots in 2021.

We can’t believe we’re about to say this given how much success they’ve enjoyed over the last two decades, but it simply isn’t fun to be a New England Patriots fan right now.

Not only is Tom Brady now one win away from another championship, but Deshaun Watson, a top-five player at the quarterback position and this offseason’s most coveted trade target, reportedly has the Jets and Dolphins atop of his preferred destinations.

In fact, the only silver lining Patriots fans had this weekend came in the form of the Bills squandering their opportunity to advance to the Super Bowl. However, they can’t even take much solace in that because Buffalo has as bright of a future as any team in the league and they reside in the AFC East … in case you forgot.

With all of this in mind, the defeated fan base would grab hold of any low-hanging fruit in order to feel optimistic heading into next season. Well, it just so happens that CBS color analyst Tony Romo believes the Patriots will be back in the playoffs in 2021. That’s gotta count for something, right?

"“The AFC is going to be loaded,” Romo said. “I’m telling you, New England is going to be back in this thing. I have a feeling Belichick, with that much salary cap, they’ll find a way to come back in this thing.”"

If Romo made this prediction in response to a question about the Patriots and their outlook for the 2021 season, we wouldn’t have read too much into it. However, the fact that he brought them up seemingly out the blue during the final seconds of the AFC Championship Game on Sunday night suggests that he genuinely has high hopes for them.

With that out of the way, what did Romo exactly mean by “this thing.” Was he referring to the playoffs in general or the AFC Title Game? Because those are two entirely different monsters considering how far off their roster is from being able to compete with some of the conference’s juggernauts.

Having the fourth-most cap space in the league ($54.86 million) will go a long way in addressing some of those problems, but a couple of marquee additions may not be enough to put them in a position to go toe-to-toe with the likes of the Chiefs, Bills, Ravens, Titans, Colts and Dolphins.

Nevertheless, however, returning to the playoffs alone would still be regarded as a massive achievement for Patriots fans given what they went through this season. And if they aren’t confident in Romo’s prediction, he forecasted live on air back in Week 12 that the Bucs and Chiefs would meet in the Super Bowl, so he knows a thing or two about seeing into the future.

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