The NFL hit the New England Patriots with the ultimate scheduling insult Thursday.
The league announced that the Patriots' Week 15 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs, originally scheduled for Monday, Dec. 18, has been "flexed" out of ESPN's Monday Night Football and rescheduled to Sunday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m. ET.
Seattle Seahawks vs. Philadelphia Eagles will replace Patriots-Chiefs as that week's Monday night game, marking the first time in NFL history that the league has "flexed" a MNF game after it instituted a new rule allowing Monday night games to be flexed beginning in 2023.
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Patrick Mahomes and the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs are one of the league's best and most popular teams. One of their top players, tight end Travis Kelce, is dating pop superstar Taylor Swift. So why did the league decide to move them out of primetime?
Many on social media reached the same conclusion: The Patriots really are that bad.
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Head coach Bill Belichick's team is 2-9 entering Week 13 and owns the NFL's second-worst offense (13.5 points per game). The Patriots have scored 13 points combined in their last two games and reportedly plan to start backup quarterback Bailey Zappe this weekend after benching Mac Jones in back-to-back contests.
Put another way: The Patriots apparently are so unwatchable that the NFL decided to take one its premier franchises out of primetime for fear of a one-sided snooze-fest. That can't sit well with team owner Robert Kraft.
Here's a roundup of the best reactions on social media after the league's (not so) surprising decision.