I agree that there’s a huge overreaction here, though 4+ losses wouldn’t surprise me with that tough schedule. We can rightfully point out that their team has some huge holes, especially in the classic football sense, but here’s the key factor: in the modern NFL, offense is the most reliable indicator of wins and teams with a strong passing offense are most likely to perform consistently any given Sunday.
Other metrics like rushing yards and a lot of defensive stats don’t always predict performance well because they tend to be based more on situation and opponent. That’s not saying what the Patriots are doing is random and fully opponent based, but it’s to say in modern history there have not been a lot of truly dominant defenses and typically the better offense wins. I do hope the Patriots are a historic outlier. I just think it’s crazy to think a team like the Chiefs are going to be a pushover, considering that offense imposes it’s will most of the time.
The Patriots from roughly 2009-13 and again in 2017 had plenty of problems and were carried by the passing game, and they were certainly within striking distance of a championship.