Patriots' AFC East title run comes to an end after 11 seasons

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The last time the New England Patriots failed to win the AFC East crown, Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States, becoming the first Black president in the country’s history.

In 2008, the Patriots failed to win the division title in the wake of Tom Brady suffering a season-ending ACL injury in the first game of that season. The team even finished with an 11-5 record. Fast-forward to 2020, the first season without Brady under center in 20 years, and New England won’t end as division champions once again.

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The Buffalo Bills, which haven’t won an AFC East title since Jim Kelly was playing quarterback for the team back in 1995, improved to a 10-3 record with their 26-15 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on "Sunday Night Football." The victory put an end to New England’s 11-year run of division titles, which is an NFL record. The Los Angeles Rams own the NFL’s second-longest division streak, earning seven straight titles from 1973-79. 

It will be just the fourth time since head coach Bill Belichick became the Patriots’ coach in 2000 that the team won’t claim the division crown. Last month, the Bills escaped with a 24-21 win over the Patriots in Buffalo.

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The Bills will also be the first AFC East team since 2000 to have more victories than the Patriots. When the Patriots missed the playoffs in 2008 with an 11-5 record, the Miami Dolphins also had an 11-5 record, but Miami came away with the division title due to a tiebreaker, and the Patriots missed the playoffs by losing other in-conference tiebreakers.

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Since the Patriots last missed the playoffs in 2008, their average margin in the division has been more than three games, and in none of those seasons had the division title been up for grabs in the final week of the season.

Since Brady took over as the Patriots’ starting quarterback in 2001, the franchise has appeared in nine Super Bowls and won six Super Bowl titles. They also won 17 division championships.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.