Patriots rooting guide: Who New England fans should root for on Sunday

Related: Pats Pulpit Picks: What are the best bets and picks for the Week 7 Sunday games?

Week 7 is in full swing, but the New England Patriots (3-3) will not enter the action until Monday: they will host the Chicago Bears (2-4) at Gillette Stadium for a primetime matchup. Their game will put a cap on what is a busy weekend — one that will see 12 games played on Sunday.

Who should New England fans root for during those 12 contests? Glad you asked. Welcome to the latest edition of our Patriots Rooting Guide.

1 p.m. ET

Cleveland Browns (2-4) at Baltimore Ravens (3-3): Go Browns! The Patriots have already beaten the Browns, while they lost to the Ravens. A Cleveland win would therefore help New England’s position in the AFC playoff race. | CBS, fuboTV, Paramount+

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-3) at Carolina Panthers (1-5): Go Bucs! The Patriots own the Panthers’ third- and sixth-round draft picks next year. Every Carolina loss is a good one from that perspective. | FOX, fuboTV

Atlanta Falcons (3-3) at Cincinnati Bengals (3-3): Go Falcons! The classic NFC-AFC battle. As usual, rooting for the NFC team is the way to go here. | FOX, fuboTV

New York Giants (5-1) at Jacksonville Jaguars (2-4): Go Giants! Different teams, same story. Go NFC squad. | FOX, fuboTV

Detroit Lions (1-4) at Dallas Cowboys (4-2): Go Lions! The Patriots have beaten the Lions already, so a Detroit win would improve both their strength of victory and strength of schedule tiebreakers. Additionally, it would put them a game ahead of the Panthers in the race for the first overall draft pick — and for maximum positioning for the Patriots’ two draft selections mentioned above. | CBS, fuboTV, Paramount+

Indianapolis Colts (3-2-1) at Tennessee Titans (3-2): Go… Colts? This is a lose-lose scenario from a New England perspective, so we are rooting for the team that has looked worse so far and is on the Patriots’ schedule (thus improving the strength of schedule tiebreaker). | CBS, fuboTV, Paramount+

Green Bay Packers (3-3) at Washington Commanders (2-4): Go Packers! Another game tied to the Patriots’ strength of schedule tiebreaker. Other than that there is no reason to root for Green Bay. | FOX, fuboTV

4:05 p.m. ET

New York Jets (4-2) at Denver Broncos (2-4): Go Denver! There are several reasons to root against the Jets here: their record compared to the Patriots’, the Broncos’ inferior record compared to both, and that they are the Jets. | CBS, fuboTV, Paramount+

Houston Texans (1-3-1) at Las Vegas Raiders (1-4): Go… Raiders? The team of head coach Josh McDaniels is on the Patriots’ schedule this year, so it will improve New England’s strength of schedule tiebreaker and remove Las Vegas from competition for the first overall pick (and thus help the Panthers picks traded to the Patriots). Unfortunately, every Raiders win will also hurt their sixth-round pick acquired in the Justin Herron trade. So, a tie would be nice. | CBS, fuboTV, Paramount+

4:25 p.m. ET

Seattle Seahawks (3-3) at Los Angeles Chargers (4-2): Go Seahawks! AFC team versus NFC team? NFC team is our choice. | FOX, fuboTV

Kansas City Chiefs (4-2) at San Francisco 49ers (3-3): Go Niners! AFC team versus NFC team? NFC team is — you guessed it — our choice. | FOX, fuboTV

8:20 p.m. ET

Pittsburgh Steelers (2-4) at Miami Dolphins (3-3): Go Steelers! Pittsburgh has already lost to New England and does not appear to be a real threat in the AFC playoff race. The Dolphins, on the other hand, have beaten the Patriots and are ahead of them in the standings. While the two AFC East rivals will meet again this year, a Dolphins loss is the clear outcome to root for here. | NBC, fuboTV, Peacock

Make sure to head down to the comment section to discuss the game, and take a look at this story stream for all our Patriots-Bears coverage.