You didn't really think the Patriots were going to win 11 straight games to finish the regular season, and then another three in the postseason — 14 consecutive wins — to take home the franchise's seventh Lombardi Trophy, did you?
Here's the list of previous Super Bowl winners, listed most recent first, and the number of games they won consecutively to take the title:
Buccaneers 8 (Last loss: Week 12)
Chiefs 9 (Week 10)
Patriots 5 (Week 15)
Eagles 3 (Week 17)
Patriots 10 (Week 10)
Broncos 5 (Week 15)
Patriots 3 (Week 17)
Seahawks 4 (Week 16)
Ravens 4 (Week 17)
Giants 6 (Week 15)
Packers 6 (Week 15)
Saints 3 (Week 17)
Do you know the last Super Bowl winner to win 12 or more games without a loss to win a Super Bowl title? That would be your New England Patriots in 2003, which won 15 straight games to win their second title.
In fact, did you know that the '03 Patriots squad is the only team, since the 1986 Giants, in the past 35 years to win at least 12 straight games to finish the season?
Does this version of the Patriots have anything in common with either of those teams, or the '84 San Francisco 49ers, '76 Oakland Raiders and '72 Miami Dolphins — the only other teams to do that feat in the Super Bowl era? (I only know this because I went through this exercise in 2009 covering the Packers.)
Okay, good. Now we can deal with reality.
That reality smacked the Patriots and anyone dreaming of a 2001 redux square in the face on Saturday night in Indianapolis with a 27-17 loss to the Colts that saw the well-rested Patriots fall behind 20-0 in the third quarter.
It wasn't the reality of New England not being a good team — it is a good team. It was the reality that this had become some sort of fairytale season where the Patriots could do no wrong and the ghosts of 2019 and '20 had been exorcised.
This team is very mortal. Just like every other team. If the Patriots show up to a game and don't execute very well, have dumb penalties in crucial spots, turn the ball over too much, and leave points on the field, they will lose just like every other team. It's just, with Bill Belichick in charge, these types of games are very few and far between compared to other franchises.
It doesn't mean they are pretenders or they've been exposed, it simply means they are mortal.
But what does this loss — and a 17-point comeback that made it a one-score game — mean in the big picture?
Well, it means they are in for a dogfight in these final three games (and beyond), in case anyone had any other ideas like booking hotels in LA for the Super Bowl against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers.
It means the first Buffalo game, provided the Bills take care of the Panthers today, means absolutely nothing. All that glee you had watching the Patriots run on every down and how Sean McDermott lost his mind all game? It means zilch unless the Patriots win at home on Sunday. If the Bills win, with the Jets and Falcons left, they are going to be AFC East champs again, and the Patriots will have to win at least one road playoff game.
Oh, and the Patriots still have to finish the season in Miami, their own personal house of horrors, against a Dolphins team that has won five straight, and could be riding an 8-game win streak into that one.
Am I all that worried about the path the Patriots are on? No. Do I think this loss is a bad thing? No, not if the team was starting to feel themselves. If that was the case, the Patriots and this whole region needed this loss.
I know one thing, this is going to be a really crappy weekend around Fort Foxborough. Belichick was his normal self after a bad-tasting loss — terse, dismissive, grumpy — after this one.
"I don’t know ... Maybe you know what went wrong. I don’t know," he said. "Obviously, we didn’t do anything well enough, I don’t know how else to say it.”
That means the Patriots can forget about a merry Christmas. The Beli-Grinch will be in foul mood, and you're damn right he's taking the roast beast, and Nike will be riding shotgun with antlers.
Good. This team needed a swift kick in the rear if they thought they were going to come out like that and win this game against a good team on the road.
I mean, what's with some of the quotes from Patriots players?
"They came ready to play, we didn't come ready to play," said Hunter Henry, one of the few Patriots that was ready for this one. "I mean, that’s a good football team. This is a very meaningful game in December, and we just didn't come ready to play."
Um, what? The Patriots didn't come ready to play?
"Yeah, I just don’t think it was our best effort," said Mac Jones. "It starts with me just throughout the week. We didn’t have a great practice every day, so it is what it is.
"I just think we, starting with me, the energy (in practice) was kind of low, maybe like feeling a little sorry for ourselves because we’re coming off the bye and stuff. Not to get into details, but we just didn’t practice well, and that just reflects how we played. And I didn’t practice good, and I know a lot of guys on our team felt the same way."
Not our best effort? Feeling a little sorry for ourselves? Bad practice? Low energy?
Who the heck are these guys?
Don't even come at me with the excuse about the bye week and the team losing whatever momentum they had.
In case you didn't know this, the Colts had a bye last week as well, had won 4 of 5 and 6 of 7, and they led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
No, the Patriots just played a bad game. They had an incredible list of boneheaded mistakes, and the rookie QB played like a rookie QB on the big stage for a while and could not complete a double-digit comeback for the third time (0-3).
This is not an indictment on Jones, just pointing out facts. He out-INT'd Carson Wentz, but Jones played well and showed some things in the second half. He didn't get much help in the first half as the entire team appeared to hit the snooze button from the bye week.
In fact, the unit most responsible for this loss, Belichick's precious special teams, were an absolute disaster. Belichick spends all that money and roster spots on special teams (despite the dwindling number of plays they are involved in each season), for expressly this type of game. When the team is trying to find its footing against a good opponent, the Patriots need their special teams to jumpstart the team.
Instead, with the third blocked punt of the season (three!!) — returned for a touchdown — an offsides call on special teams-only player Brandon King giving the Colts three points, and Gunner Olszewski fumbling (it drifted out of bounds), Belichick's Teams drained the battery and made the rest of the team walk home.
It was the cherry on the crap sundae the Patriots served up.
Are the Patriots this bad? No. Just like how the Titans will be better (if healthy) should the Patriots see them again, New England could very easily jump out to a 20-0 lead vs. Indy in a playoff rematch, especially considering how Frank Reich avoided making eye contact with Wentz all night. (Conversely, if you think Indy played a perfect game and can't duplicate that victory again, good luck to you. The Colts played the clock — and won — in the second half and have plenty of meat left on their bone as well.)
Were the Patriots as good as a lot of people thought while they beat up injured teams at less-than-full-strength and edged Buffalo in weather conditions that will never be duplicated? No.
The simple fact is the Patriots are like every other team, but with a better coach. They can beat anyone, and they can lose to anyone.
The Patriots got a dose of humble pie on Saturday night, and it was likely the best thing for them. They are now assured of being in a bad mood come Sunday against Buffalo, and that's the best path forward for them — not a 14-game win streak.