When the NFL initially released the 2026 schedule, it sent a clear message about how it viewed the Patriots after their 2025 season ended with a Super Bowl appearance: they are a competitive team again and should be featured on primetime.
Their initial schedule had five primetime games and one international game played in its own slot, starting with their Super Bowl rematch against the Seahawks in the first-ever Wednesday night season opener.
They were then scheduled to face the Bears on Thursday Night Football, their first of two games on Amazon, with their home game against the Vikings in Week 14 being their next. They were also set to have a Sunday Night game against the Chargers in Week 12 and a Monday Night game in Kansas City in Week 15.
At the start of the season, they looked loaded and ready to play big-time games in front of most NFL fans. But after how they looked against the Packers on Sunday, getting blown out 45-27, they're likely to lose their next primetime matchup against the Chargers and get flexed out of their Sunday Night spot.
The Patriots might have another primetime game flexed out after their weak performance on Sunday
An abysmal showing against another 5-3 team this past Sunday might have sealed the Patriots' primetime fate ahead of their Week 12 game in Los Angeles.
There was already a good chance the NFL would swap it out because the Chargers are 0-8 after losing to the Texans on Sunday, but with the Patriots' recent stinker, those chances likely skyrocketed, as many fans would choose not to tune in to watch those two teams play each other.
The league has until November 17 to make the decision, and although it's looking like that will be the move, because the game is the week of Thanksgiving, which has a Wednesday game, three Thursday games, a Friday game, and a Monday game, they might be stuck with keeping the original game in place.
That gives the league fewer options, so the NFL world might be forced to watch a game between a really bad Chargers team and a depleted Patriots team coming off a bye and hopefully healthier than they have been.
That's the only positive spin on this game, even if the Chargers look like a beatable team. It's hard to feel good about the Patriots' chances of pulling that off, even with a week's rest beforehand.
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