The New England Patriots (currently) are a playoff team.
Bill Belichick's team was 2-4 after its Week 6 loss to the Dallas Cowboys but has won three straight, including Sunday's 24-6 win over the Carolina Panthers, and now sits at 5-4. The Patriots are in seventh place in the AFC, good for the final wild card spot.
If the season ended today, New England would visit Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens for an AFC wild-card matchup.
Here are the current wild card weekend matchups, via Adam Schefter of ESPN:
The conference standings also have gotten awfully interesting. Eight teams have five wins, and the number would grow to nine if the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Chicago Bears on Monday night.
Here are the full AFC standings:
1. Tennessee Titans (7-2)
2. Baltimore Ravens (6-2)
3. Los Angeles Chargers (5-3)
4. Buffalo Bills (5-3)
5. Las Vegas Raiders (5-3)
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3)
7. New England Patriots (5-4)
8. Kansas City Chiefs (5-4)
9. Cleveland Browns (5-4)
10. Cincinnati Bengals (5-4)
11. Denver Broncos (5-4)
12. Indianapolis Colts (4-5)
13. New York Jets (2-6)
14. Jacksonville Jaguars (2-6)
15. Miami Dolphins (2-7)
16. Houston Texans (1-8)
The Patriots still have games remaining against the Bills (two); Browns, who they'll host this Sunday; and Titans. Those remaining matchups, along with the fact that New England already has beaten the Chargers, prove the AFC -- like the AFC East -- is wide open.
It got dicey for a minute, but it now looks like the Patriots indeed will compete for a playoff spot this season.
