When Tom Brady's final pass of the year fell incomplete, it sealed the fate of the 2017 New England Patriots: they would end the season in second place, defeated in Super Bowl LII by the Philadelphia Eagles. What is following the loss on the game's biggest stage is an offseason of questions – most of them surrounding a defense that gave up 41 points – and likely personell turnover both on the field and on the sidelines.
It is, unfortunately, a familiar place to be in for a Patriots franchise that has lost three of its eight Super Bowls of the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era.