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Not all bye weeks are created equal. Talk all you want about how a loss in October costs the same as a loss in December, and maybe that’s true, but it doesn’t feel the same.
A midseason setback that puts you in a hole too big to recover from in time to make the playoffs, yes, it hurts. But to have a chance on the last week of the regular season, then being dealt a defeat to end your season, that is so much more devastating.
The only thing that could make it worse is that “L” coming thanks to having a key player on a bye at the worst possible time. For real, who is making the NFL schedule? Do they not understand there is a whole fantasy football subculture, and these late byes are just crushing?
It wasn’t always like this. For example, in 2020, the last season of the 16-game/17-week format, two Week 13 byes were the last ones. In 2019, all byes were over by Week 12.