Hurley: There's kind of a ton at stake for the Patriots this weekend

BOSTON -- Over the past several years, the aura and intimidation factor of Gillette Stadium has dissipated rather significantly. Once a place where even the smartest and most imposing teams would crumble almost every single game, the Patriots' home has become ... just another building. 

Dating back to December of 2019, visitors to Gillette Stadium are 12-10. That's after the Patriots went 84-12 at home from 2009-18.

Things have, quite clearly, changed. And everyone understands that.

Yet even in this new reality where the Patriots could lose on any given week at home, it's worth bringing this to the forefront right now: There is a lot at stake this weekend at Gillette Stadium. Losing Sunday's game to the Detroit Lions would usher in a new, unfortunate reality in New England.

Of course, if they do lose, the excuse of having to play rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe will be reflexively pinpointed as the major reason why. And, to be fair, there would be some validity in that ... if the opponent was not the Detroit Lions.

This is a matchup that pits Bill Belichick and his 291 career wins as a head coach against ... Dan Campbell. Now in his third season as a head coach, Campbell owns a head-coaching record of 9-23-1. This is a mismatch of historic proportions. Even if the Foxboro High School varsity squad is the only available personnel for the Patriots, Belichick should be able to outfox his counterpart in this one.

In a less concrete but equally jarring comparison, this matchup also features the Patriots ... and the Lions. Obviously, past success won't be a factor for this one particular game, but it's impossible to ignore the disparity between a franchise that hasn't won a playoff game since 1991 (!!!) and a team that has won 33 playoff games and has won six Super Bowls and has played in four more Super Bowls during that same span.

While we all may recognize that those dynastic days are no longer here ... we're not so far removed that a home loss against the Lions should be anything but shocking.

We live in a society -- a society guided by rules. Those rules state that Bill Belichick cannot lose to Dan Campbell to drop his team's record to 1-4.

Now, one could point out that Bill Belichick lost to the Detroit Lions, then coached by Matt Patricia, in Week 3 of the 2018 season, to drop to 1-2. That was an ugly, nationally televised affair. Yet the Lions went on to finish 6-10, and the Patriots went on to ... casually win a Super Bowl. Obviously, an early-season loss to the Lions is not an indication that doomsday has arrived.

But, well, that was long ago. The final days of the dynasty era. The days when Tom Brady's offense occasionally needed to use September as a sort of Preseason Plus to figure out what it could do. Julian Edelman was still out due to a suspension. Josh Gordon had just signed with the team. Things weren't right, but there was no reason to believe they wouldn't eventually get there.

It just doesn't feel like the Patriots are in that same space right now.

Not that anyone around here has visions of the Patriots making a surprising run to the Super Bowl or anything, but dropping to 1-4 would be a bit crushing in terms of the overall season outlook. And having it come at home, to a 1-3 Lions team that is allowing 5.61 yards per rushing attempt and 165.5 rushing yards per game and 7.5 yards per passing attempt and 279.3 yards per game and, most significantly, 35.3 points per game (how is any of that possible?), to a team that is also coached by Dan Campbell? To a team that will almost certainly be without their best players in D'Andre Swift and Amon-Ra St. Brown, with a banged-up T.J. Hockenson to boot? That would be devastating.

It can't happen.

If it does? With the Patriots wearing their throwback red uniforms and Pat Patriot logo for the first time in years? The "throwback" vibe the Patriots are going for will certainly take on an unfortunate, unintended feel.

Realistically, if the Patriots were to lose to the Lions, they still could rattle off five straight wins to get to 6-5 on the year. That is technically possible.

But would it seem actually possible ... if the Patriots lose to the Detroit Lions? No. It would seem quite dreary, in a way that nothing's felt around these parts in a long, long time.

That -- more than anything else -- is what's at stake when the Patriots take the field on Sunday. They may not be preserving the Super Bowl era anymore, but they can still preserve a certain level of pride in order to avoid reaching a new low in expectations for football in New England.

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.