The New England Patriots have lost back-to-back games in December for the first time since 2002 following their disappointing 17-10 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
The Pats enter Week 16 as the No. 3 seed in the AFC playoff picture, one game behind the Houston Texans. They still have a pretty good chance to earn the No. 2 seed -- all the Patriots need is one Texans loss combined with wins over the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets at Gillette Stadium to end the regular season.
Where do the Patriots stand in this week's NFL power rankings? Well, most experts have the Pats outside the top five after they peaked as high as No. 2 on some lists following their win against the Minnesota Vikings two weeks ago. New England isn't instilling the same fear into opponents that we usually see at this time of the season, but it's still hard to go against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick when it matters most.
Here's a roundup of expert NFL power rankings for Week 16.
ProFootballTalk: No. 8
Bleacher Report: No. 6
ESPN: No. 7
NFL.com: No. 6
Sports Illustrated: No. 6
CBS Sports: No. 6
Sporting News: No. 8
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