By all accounts the season is already lost. The Patriots entered the bye with the AFC’s worst record (2-8) and have almost no shot at crawling back into the playoff picture.

Yet the Patriots still have seven games to play, and as bad as things look the players still have hope they can turn things around.

“Of course,” said offensive lineman Cole Strange. “If we didn’t we’d stop playing and quit.”

Fresh off a difficult loss to the Indianapolis Colts and a long flight back from Germany, the bye week is coming at a welcome time. Before their weekend off Patriots players said they were looking forward to taking a few days to gather themselves and reset, but also that the few days after returning from overseas were productive and encouraging.

“I see it at practice, I see it in the games, no one’s quitting, no one’s flinching, so I’ve never lost faith in these guys and they’ve never lost faith in me, so there’s never been a question about any of that,” said linebacker Jahlani Tavai. “I’m just excited to get back after I go and recollect myself to go fly around with these guys.”

“If you don’t have faith in what you’re doing why are you coming in here every day?” said special teams captain Matthew Slater. “For me, I still have faith in the people in this building, our process, the people leading us, I have faith in a lot of things. Sometimes you have to have faith even when you haven’t seen the results you’d like, but that’s life, right?”

Faith can be a powerful motivator, especially during difficult times, but as bad as things have gone the Patriots do have some concrete reasons for optimism coming out of the break. For one, offensive lineman David Andrews said that while nobody is happy about the team’s record, they also aren’t as far away as the 2-8 mark might suggest.

“We’re not talking about splitting an atom here, just a few plays here and there,” Andrews said. “I think every game we’ve looked at for the most part four or five plays here or there change the outcome of the game.”

Andrews isn’t wrong. New England’s first two games were essentially decided on the last play, with the offense unable to complete last-minute drives that would have clinched impressive comeback wins over potential Super Bowl contenders.

The losses to Dallas and New Orleans were smackdowns and the second loss to Miami was decisive, but in the other three losses to Las Vegas, Washington and Indianapolis the Patriots had an opportunity to win at the end only to let things slip away.

Nothing is going to change how those games played out, but the Patriots can still turn things around over the last two months. Last year the Steelers were 3-7 after their first 10 games and managed to win six of their last seven to finish the season with a winning record. Perhaps the Patriots have a similar run in them as well?

“That’s the exciting thing, you hope you can change the narrative of our story and how that story ends, and we have a say in that, which is a beautiful thing,” Slater said. “So hopefully we can do the things that we need to do to start getting the outcomes we’d like to see, and you never know what can happen.”