Longo: Smart and tough not enough for Patriots vs. Chiefs, but come January it just might be

FOXBOROUGH – This five-game regular-season stretch, an uninspiring 2-3 from the New England Patriots, has been quite defining for these defending Super Bowl champions.

One question should sum up this football team's future.

We know the Patriots are smarter and tougher than every opponent they will face in the AFC. We also know that they are slower. The Chiefs, Ravens, and Texans all demonstrated that to the entire football world. Speed, in those three cases, killed.

But can smarter and tougher be enough to win the Super Bowl?

Even in defeat on Sunday evening, 23-16 to Kansas City, the Patriots proved that, yes, it could happen.

They also proved that everything, and I do mean everything, has to break correctly. And they certainly didn't thanks to Jerome Boger's officiating crew, which brought new and infuriating meaning to the word bollixed repeatedly in the Patriots' second straight loss.

Don't focus on the Boger blunders. Be bigger. Be like Bill.

“I was proud of the way our guys competed, 100 percent, my No. 1 thing,” said Bill Belichick, who was clearly impressed with the effort.

Something was born in the second half. Perhaps, it's been there all the time and just was cultivated against the Chiefs, even in defeat.

“We battled for 60 minutes … we were competitive right down to the final play,” said Belichick.

LeSean McCoy, a veteran who has seen plenty of the Patriots over the years, is thoroughly impressed, especially with the New England grit.

“Oh yeah,” he responded about the Patriots' work till the final whistle. "It's such a smart group that plays so well together. They make all the right reads. It's a veteran group, and they don't beat themselves. That's half the battle.

“They're a lot better (than they've been through McCoy's career). They added (Jamie) Collins. He helps tremendously. They're used to winning, and there's no situation they'll be in that they weren't in before.”

Look, this football team is not the 2004 Patriots. Apologies to those who made the comparisons to the 1985 Bears or the 2000 Ravens, they are/were erroneous, even from this corner.

It's a dynamite defense, but there is no Ray Lewis or Mike Singletary here.

This team, even in a two-game mini-skid, is now trending toward the 2001 Patriots.

They are hungry. They are angry. And they play from first whistle to final whistle. Don't think the Chiefs and the rest of the NFL isn't noticing.

On Sunday, the Chiefs broke out the hats and T-shirts to celebrate winning the AFC West. In the back of his mind, though, Patrick Mahomes has to be thinking about his 57 passing yards and the three points the Chiefs scored in the second half.

How many times did he have the football in his hands with the chance to lance the heart of the Patriots after halftime? He couldn't.

Character has been a question with this New England team. It picked at the weakened foes early, like a hyena working the plains. They showed little against Lamar Jackson and less a week ago in Houston.

But this one was different. There was no let-up against the Chiefs. The Patriots willed themselves back in it.

They were in the right spot, despite a stumble through a listless first half. It just didn't go their way — flags, whistles, whatever.

“We fought and we fought and we fought,” said receiver Phillip Dorsett. “We fought hard.”

That matters. Things change in January when it matters most. First, the weather often favors toughness over pure speed.

Smarts beat quicks when the temperature tumbles.

And don't count out Tom Brady, who is the greatest playoff athlete in the history of any sport.

Brady knows that it's his job – after N'Keal Harry is somehow called out of bounds at the 3 when he never left the playing surface – to spit at the adversity and persevere.

“We still had a chance, and we wish we could have scored there at the end,” TB12 said.

Translation: We need to score there.

This dog is healthy and ready to fight. It's got flaws, for sure. But this is football, not track and field. Even in a tough, nationally-televised loss, this was one to put in the bank.

Redeemable in January of 2020.