How Patriots Made Unfortunate NFL History In Loss To Chargers

FOXBORO, Mass. -- Setting NFL records is nothing new for the Patriots. They did plenty of that during their dynastic run with Tom Brady.

But the milestone New England reached Sunday isn't one the team will be touting in press releases.

With their rain-soaked 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers at Gillette Stadium, the Patriots became the first team in the Super Bowl era to allow 10 or fewer points in three consecutive games and lose all three.

Sunday's result -- which came against the NFL's 32nd-ranked defense -- followed a 10-7 loss to the New York Giants. Before that, the Patriots lost to the Indianapolis Colts 10-6 in Germany.

The last NFL team to lose three straight games while allowing 10 or fewer points was the 1938 Chicago Cardinals, who endured four such losses in a row amid a 2-9 season.

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The 2023 Patriots now sit at 2-10 with five games remaining and have shown few reasons for offensive optimism. Second-year quarterback Bailey Zappe started in place of the finally-benched Mac Jones on Sunday, and while he did not turn the ball over, he posted a pedestrian stat line (13 of 25, 141 yards) and did not advance past the Chargers' 30-yard line on any of his 11 possessions.

New England has scored just one touchdown over its last 14 quarters dating back to the Week 9 loss to Washington. All other NFL teams are 51-0 this season when allowing 10 or fewer points. The Patriots are 1-3.

"It's super frustrating," said Ezekiel Elliott, who took over as New England's lead back after Rhamondre Stevenson suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter. "I mean, defense holds them to six points. For us not to be able to put anything on the board, it's tough.

"I feel bad for those guys on the defensive (side of the) ball. They've been playing such good defense week after week. We've got to figure out how to make more plays on offense and give them some help."

The Patriots' previous two defensive performances came against backup quarterbacks in Indy's Gardner Minshew and the Giants' Tommy DeVito. That wasn't the case Sunday, with Justin Herbert spearheading a talented Chargers offense that came in ranked in the top 10 in scoring.

It was just the third time in 61 career Herbert starts that LA failed to score 10 points, with another of those also coming against the Patriots back in 2020.

"We've got to play better complementary football," safety Jabrill Peppers said, visibly frustrated. "We just can't play well on one side of the ball, whatever phase that is."

Asked what more the Patriots can do defensively, safety Jalen Mills replied: "Score. Score on defense."

They haven't done nearly enough of that on offense of late. And with top wideout Demario Douglas in concussion protocol and Stevenson reportedly expected to miss time, things could get even uglier Thursday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers.