The New England Patriots finished the season arguably the worst team in football and without the benefit of the top overall draft pick.

Where do they go from here? Only up?

It can actually get worse than this duality of despair, but under responsible stewardship, it shouldn’t. Sunday’s dispiriting 23-16 win over the Buffalo Bills’ backups should be the nail in the coffin of the post-Brady, post-Belichick Patriot Way.

It’s time for ownership to admit the errors of their ways and, rather than save face with a few cosmetic tweaks and free agency spending, overhaul everything around rookie quarterback Drake Maye.

Let’s get this out of the way: there’s no use in being frustrated with the Patriots players who tried their darndest against Buffalo. It’s unfair to expect professional athletes to tank in-game, and plenty of guys on this roster are playing for their individual professional futures. Joe Milton III outperformed Buffalo’s second and third stringers and went 12-12 in passing when he entered the game after Maye’s single series. He was incredibly compelling in sharing his perspective at the podium postgame, sharing his experiences as a dog owner and amateur gymnast. Kayshon Boutte balled out with 117 receiving yards and a touchdown. Christian Elliss flew around on defense like he was playing in February. So credit to them, even if it drives the fans insane.

“Nobody’s out here competing to lose so we can have a pick,” Antonio Gibson said postgame.

But the Patriots are in the fetal stages of a rebuild and in dire need of assets for the offseason. Roster-wise, they’re in a worse position than they were last January. They have the quarterback, an elite cornerback, and very little else. Jerod Mayo’s final win technically secured his record to match his predecessor’s, but it was an enormous pyrrhic victory. Because the New York Giants and Tennessee Titans both lost on Sunday, the Patriots dropped to fourth on the draft board. They lost the golden chip to offer to quarterback-desperate teams in April.

The quality of New England’s roster might be close to the Giants and Browns, who draft ahead of them, but both of those teams at least have head coaches who led teams to playoff wins. Truly, the only meaningful cornerstone New England has a franchise right now is a 22-year-old rookie whose ability to transcend his circumstances has started the clock ticking on everyone else at Patriot Place.

When asked whether he had conversations with the front office about his approach to the game, Mayo said, “I’m the head coach of the football team. And anytime we step foot on the field, we want to win.”

But he can’t claim the entire strategy of the day’s approach to strictly win. As previously noted, Maye played just a series and then sat for third-stringer Milton after taking a sack from Von Miller.

“It was my decision. Coach’s decision,” Mayo said about the quarterback substitution postgame.

Christian Gonzalez, who sustained a head injury in Week 17, and starting tight end Hunter Henry were both inactive for the entire game.

Was Sunday’s win merely a fluke against a Buffalo team who didn’t want to see someone else from the division get the No. 1 overall pick? Bills head coach Sean McDermott threw his own third-stringer, Mike White, in at quarterback to round out the performance. His in-game coaching strategy appeared more focused on getting individual players to their contract incentives. A few Buffalo players earned some nice extra cash in New England Sunday.

Or was the win an act of defiance, with Mayo sensing that perhaps he and his staff aren’t long for Foxboro and have no skin in the 2025 draft? Personally, I find that idea hard to buy when Maye was sidelined after one series.

“For me, it’s all about this game. To go back to the start, it’s all about this game,” he said after the win.

For the second week in a row, “fire Mayo” chants rang out in a half-empty Gillette Stadium as the Patriots held the lead in the fourth quarter. They were quieter, with the overall crowd noticeably less rambunctious than in the week prior.

There’s one thing Patriots ownership should keep in mind as they decide how much to change after this win: the opposite of love isn’t hate. It’s indifference.

New England fans loved this team for decades. They deserve a product they don’t feel compelled to tune out again next year.