FanPulse: Patriots fans are optimistic about the playoffs

Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse — a survey of fans across the NFL, powered by SurveyMonkey. Each week, we send 32 polls to 100+ plugged in fans from each team. Patriots fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.

The 2018 Regular Season is over and fans of the New England Patriots have had a roller coaster of a season.

New England has had some good highs (beating the Kansas City Chiefs, claiming a bye week) and some tough lows (multiple two-game losing streaks, a stinker against the Tennessee Titans), but at the end of the day they’re in the postseason as the #2 seed and it’s hard to be too upset about that.

Personally, I think the Patriots have the capability to reach another Super Bowl, but will more likely falter in the AFC Championship Game. This year reminds me a bit of the 2006, 2009, and 2012 seasons with all the offensive turnover and the inevitable re-shuffling of talent just around the corner.

The future of the Patriots is far from bleak, but there are definite cause for concerns as key players continue to age (Tom Brady, Julian Edelman, Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung) or show apparent decline (Rob Gronkowski, Dont’a Hightower, Marcus Cannon). Is this a final hurrah for the Patriots? Or are we simply going to watch them re-load and go on another four-year run?

What do you think will happen?

As for the rest of the FanPulse survey, we asked about some of the bigger awards for the 2018 season.

It’s hard to argue with these selections, although I’d think Bill O’Brien and Sean McVay would get a nod or two. While Matt Nagy has done a great job with the Chicago Bears, I think that the Indianapolis Colts and Frank Reich did a lot with much less talent.

Again, this is a solid ranking. Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald was the only unanimous All Pro this year, while Khalil Mack transformed the Bears defense into one of the best in the league. They were the two best defensive players in the league for 2018.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes earned an overwhelming amount of support, while Saints quarterback Drew Brees came in second. This is likely how the real MVP voting will turn out, although I’m surprised that Chargers QB Philip Rivers didn’t get more consideration.

What do you think?