Patriots' Road To Super Bowl Gets Clearer

If the Patriots are going to get back to the Super Bowl, they'll get a chance to right some wrongs along the way.

With just one week left in the NFL regular season, the Patriots are near-locks to finish with the No. 2 seed in the AFC and get the first weekend of the postseason off. All New England has to do is beat the struggling Miami Dolphins on Sunday (or have the Kansas City Chiefs fall to the Los Angeles Chargers) to earn the bye week and at least one playoff home game.

No matter how things shake out, the only teams the Patriots could play in that home game are the Buffalo Bills, Houston Texans or Chiefs. It would take some major upsets for the Bills to get another crack at New England, so the Texans or Chiefs would likely travel to Foxborough — two of the three teams to beat the Patriots this year.

If the Patriots make it through that game, they could very well be headed to the other team that beat them: the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens would be at home as the AFC's top seed and will almost certainly be favored to reach the AFC Championship game.

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Of course, anything could happen. The Patriots could theoretically fall to the No. 3 seed and host either the Pittsburgh Steelers or Tennessee Titans in the first round of the playoffs before traveling to Kansas City; but for that to happen, New England would have to lose at home to a 4-11 Miami team this Sunday.

Coach Bill Belichick is taking nothing for granted, saying the team is treating the Dolphins game as "a playoff game." That likely means no rest for a banged-up Tom Brady and, particularly, Julian Edelman for at least another week.