The New England Patriots schedule allegations were true! Or at least, they seemed to be.

Throughout the entire season, everyone’s been talking about the Patriots’ schedule. It was not only the easiest in the NFL this season, but it was one of the easiest in NFL history. When you combine the Patriots’ 2025 opponents’ win percentages, it comes out to .391. That is the easiest strength of schedule by any team since the 1999 St. Louis Rams. To put that into perspective, the last time a team faced this easy a schedule, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was released in theaters, and I wasn’t even close to being born yet. I have quite literally never seen a team play as easy a schedule as the Patriots this year.

Still, despite their easy schedule, the Patriots ran the table in the AFC and made it to the Super Bowl. Some were saying it was a Mickey Mouse run (we’ll talk more on that later), but they were still one of the last two teams standing. The easy schedule conversation was brought up a few times leading up to Super Bowl LX, but it wasn’t as much of a talking point as it was at the end of the regular season.

If the Super Bowl was close, we probably wouldn’t even be talking about their schedule right now. But since they got blown out, 29-13, in a game that really wasn’t even as close as the score indicated, we have to talk about. Are the schedule allegations real? Or were the Seahawks just that dominant?

Patriots’ Historically Easy Schedule

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We put a number on the Patriots’ strength of schedule (.391), but let’s put it into further perspective. The Patriots obviously had to face their three AFC East foes a total of six times, which means they got to play the struggling Miami Dolphins and New York Jets a combined four times. They also had to play the Buffalo Bills, who fielded their worst team in the past five seasons, twice, and they split the series, 1-1.

The Patriots also got to play the entire AFC North, which isn’t usually an easy task, but they all had an unusually bad year, with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who they lost to, winning the division with a 10-7 record before getting blown out in the postseason. They also got to play the entire NFC South, which just so happened to be one of the worst divisions in NFL history this year.

The Patriots then had to play the two last-place teams from the AFC West (Raiders) and AFC South (Titans), who won a combined six games in 2025. And to round it all out, they got a random last-place team from the NFC, which was the New York Giants, who only managed four wins.

According to CBS Sports, the Patriots tied an NFL record for the most games against teams that fired their head coach (11) in a single season. You know how far that record dates back to? 1925, when the Frankford Yellow Jackets played 11 teams that fired their head coach the following year.

Just look at this viral post. It tells you all you need to know about their schedule this year.

So yes, the Patriots played one of the easiest schedules we’ve ever seen. And when they got to the postseason, it really didn’t get that much tougher.

New England’s Mickey Mouse Playoff Run

In the Wild Card Round, the Patriots had to face the Los Angeles Chargers, who finished the year with an 11-6 record, but ended the year on a two-game losing streak. They were a good team, but Justin Herbert basically had no offensive line to work with as both his starting tackles were out, so the Patriots cruised to victory despite scoring just 16 points.

In the Divisional Round, the Patriots were tasked with playing one of the hottest teams in the entire league, the Houston Texans. New England actually played really well in this game, but it was a one-score game entering the fourth quarter despite the fact that C.J. Stroud played one of the worst games in NFL playoff history, throwing four interceptions in a 28-16 loss. Still, it was a very impressive win.

Then we got to the AFC Championship game, where the Patriots had to go to Denver to face the Broncos. It was looking like we’d finally see New England get tested, but that lasted for about 20 minutes. Almost immediately after Denver knocked off Buffalo in the Divisional Round, they announced that Bo Nix was out for the remainder of the year with an ankle injury.

Look, you have to be a good team to make it to the Super Bowl. However, when you look back at how New England got there, it’s hard to imagine a much easier path.

Was Seattle Really That Good?

If you’re one of those people who doesn’t believe the reason the Patriots made the Super Bowl was because of their easy schedule, then you have to believe the Seattle Seahawks are one of the best teams of the 21st century, right? Because there’s no other way a team could beat down on another Super Bowl-caliber team as badly as the Seahawks did without being truly dominant. Well, luckily for you, that is probably true.

This Seahawks team didn’t look like one of the best teams of the century early in the season. They were great, yes, but not that great. But once we got to the home stretch and this team fully gelled, there was no stopping them.

Over their last nine games, Seattle gave up just over 13 PPG, and when you remove their two games against the Los Angeles Rams, that number drops to 8.1. Mike Macdonald has constructed the perfect defense for his system, and as the year went on and their new players adjusted to his style, they just got better and better.

Seattle’s offense was also incredibly effective. Maybe not as much as some of the other top Super Bowl teams from the 2000s, but Klint Kubiak built a system that was incredibly hard to stop. They have an elite offensive line that can help them establish the run, and if Kenneth Walker gets going, that opens things up for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the best route runner in the league, downfield.

This Seahawks team was very, very good. So much so that I have them ranked 6th among Super Bowl winners since 2000. But does that excuse the Patriots from the schedule allegations?

The Verdict

Do I think the Patriots’ easy schedule ultimately hurt them in the Super Bowl? Yes, I do. I know they faced three straight defenses that were really good, but none of them had the offense that Seattle had. There’s really no one the Patriots played all season that could compare to the Seahawks.

Do I also think that Seattle was so good that it didn’t really matter what the Patriots’ schedule was? Yes, I do. This team got better and better as the season went on, and this defense was just so damn good in the back half of the year. I don’t think anyone could’ve beaten them on Sunday. That’s how well they played.

So yes, the Patriots’ easy schedule allegations are true, but that doesn’t mean they were a bad team. They probably wouldn’t have made the Super Bowl if Bo Nix were healthy, but they were certainly worthy of an AFC Championship game appearance at least. You also have to remember this was year one of a rebuild. They will continue to add pieces around Drake Maye, and they will be back in the Super Bowl conversation as early as next year.