Tom Brady, Bill Belichick Talk Patriots' Loss to Dolphins, Losing Home-Field

The New England Patriots made history in a way they aren't used to by losing 27-24 to the visiting Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon: 

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick's and quarterback Tom Brady's moods matched the upset when meeting with reporters afterward. 

"We needed our best football," Belichick said. "We didn't have it today. Hopefully it will be there next week."

Brady added: "It was a great chance for us to not play next week, so we didn't take advantage of it. We just didn't play good enough. We all wish we should have done a better job. Certainly I do. ... We got beat, and now we got to play next week. We got to play a lot better next week."

The Patriots fell to 12-4, while the Dolphins finished 5-11. More importantly to New England, the Kansas City Chiefs leapfrogged into the No. 2 seed in the AFC and a first-round bye. The Patriots entered Week 17 as the projected second seed, and the Chiefs needed to beat the Los Angeles Chargers—which they did by a 31-21 score—and for the Pats to lose in order to reverse their positions.

ESPN's Mike Reiss provided some context as to just how improbable this outcome was:

"The result is the largest upset loss of Brady's career, as he was 30-0 as at least a 14-point favorite, according to ESPN's Stats & Information. Entering the game, Brady's worst career upset was as a 13.5-point favorite against Arizona in the second week of the 2012 season.

"Overall, it is the Patriots' largest upset loss since Sept 18, 1978, when they were a 17-point favorite over Baltimore."

Adding salt to the wound, the Patriots were upset by a Belichick protege in Brian Flores, who was hired as the Dolphins head coach in February after serving in various coaching roles under Belichick since 2004.

The 12-4 Chiefs owned the head-to-head tiebreaker against New England because they won 23-16 in Week 14 at Gillette Stadium. 

New England went 2-3 in its last five regular-season games, including two home losses. Before it lost to K.C., the team had won 21 consecutive home games.

However, the season is far from over for the defending champions. The Patriots will host their wild-card matchup against the sixth-seeded Tennessee Titans next weekend.