Some can't wait for it to be over, and they'd rather have the best draft position possible as a reward for going through this season from hell.
Others will point to this game, make all sorts of excuses for the Patriots' close losses during their 4-11 season, and go to sleep waiting for Santa knowing that there's no possible way New England will ever see a coach like Bill Belichick, whether he's 71 or 91, and they should absolutely keep him.
(I do find those that point to the seven losses by one score or less to be entertaining. Belichick losing 64 percent by one score — damn that Mac Jones — is evidence of how good Belichick is as a coach. What if I told you that of Josh McDaniels' 16 losses as Raiders coach, that 69 percent were by one score? Does that make him a good coach undermined by Derek Carr and Jimmy Garoppolo? We digress... )
We're not supposed to straddle fences in this business, but the draft pick and In Bill We Trust crowd are right. The Patriots are in this mess (4-11, and 29-37 since Tom Brady departed) due to Belichick's failing as the chief football operator of the Patriots, namely his duties as general manager and filling out his coaching staff. Beating Mitch Trubisky (again) and the Broncos (22nd in DVOA, Patriots entered 27th) doesn't change that.
The Patriots also occasionally have games like this, a 26-23 victory over a Broncos team going nowhere and possibly headed for a losing season, where Belichick reminds you that he's still a damn good coach, capable of handing peers like Sean Payton a big, fat L.
And make no mistake, Belichick coached the pants off Payton in this one. It's been a rough season, he's been rightfully criticized a lot this season and his future in New England in doubt, but Belichick earned career win number 333 (15 wins to pass Don Shula).
"I think they’re coached extremely well," the quarterback formerly known as Russell Wilson said.
The biggest moment came with under a minute to play.
"The advantage we had towards the end was with the timeouts," Payton said.
It wound up being his downfall, which Belichick eagerly participated in.
The Patriots had the ball at their own 19-yard line with 58 seconds and one timeout remaining. The Broncos had all three left.
On first down, the Patriots ran 6 yards with Ezekiel Elliott. This was Belichick gauging how aggressive Payton was going to be, and the former Saints coach fell into the trap by using his first timeout. Belichick likely would have played for overtime, if Payton had been paying attention at all to the Patriots this season, or how conservative the Patriots were after going up 23-7.
By Payton calling that timeout, that led to Belichick forcing Payton to burn his second timeout after another run — Payton was committed to that path.
At that point, with each team having one timeout remaining, Belichick had sort of a free aggressive play at that point. If Belichick ran and didn't pick up the 3 yards, the Broncos would burn their final timeout, needing about 65 yards for a game-winning field goal with zero timeouts. Not awful.
Try to pick up the 3 yards — and if you can't do that, you deserve to lose in the NFL — and you have a chance to win the game.
Belichick gave Bill O'Brien the green light to be more aggressive. The Broncos, half looking for another running play, were caught in between and didn't blitz for one of the few times on the night (Payton allowing Vance Joseph to blitz as much as he did allowed Zappe a lot more clean reads and another big L). The linebackers were in limbo eyeing a running play. The corners were manned up on the outside and gave a lower-risk throw on the outside, the kind where it's either caught or goes out of bounds (Zappe and DeVante Parker missed out of bounds on that exactly play earlier in the game). Apparently the Broncos didn't watch much tape of Zappe because he loves to throw those types of passes and has a good rapport with Parker on the backshoulder.
“To see guys go up and make plays like DeVante did, just builds more confidence. Not only for me but for him," Zappe said. "I feel like no matter what, whoever is out there covering my guys in press coverage, it’s either going to be incomplete or we are going to come down with it.”
Two more quick passes for 9 yards gave the shaky Chad Ryland a shot at redemption, which he converted. Of course, Payton also erred in not icing the rookie by using his final timeout there as well.
There was also Payton's crucial mistake going for it on 4th and goal from the 2 on the opening possession — immediately after Wilson nearly threw an end zone interception — and not kicking a field goal that could have made a huge difference in the end. (The football gods looked kindly on you not making the interception happen ... don't push your luck. Payton did, and lost when his running back tripped over his lineman. Don't mess with the football gods...)
I know there were probably plenty of fans who were probably irate at the Patriots' fourth-quarter play selections, which are dictated by the head coach to the offensive coordinator in those situations — run, run, pass; short pass, short pass, short pass; short pass, short pass, scramble — but Belichick was managing the game. The offense was without Hunter Henry, Kendrick Bourne and Juju Smith-Schuster in the passing game. The offensive line, minus their coach, had a shell game of bad play going on at left tackle and left guard. And just the week before, the young quarterback who he cut in September made the big mistake that set the stage for a loss to the Chiefs. Now he was in Mile High on national TV.
It's easy to throw caution to the wind and just wing it, especially with a 3-11 record at the time. It takes discipline to grind out a victory even though it looks ugly, maybe in doubt at times.
“That was a wild game," Belichick said. "Really proud of our guys, our players and coaches."
Belichick, as always, played the odds of a has-been in Wilson driving the ball down the field twice against the Patriots and making two two-point conversions. Tip of the cap to the Broncos for actually hitting on the Superfecta.
But kudos to Belichick as well for having another moment that reminded at least some fans of his worth on Sundays.
Damn the draft pick and, for at least one Christmas Eve night, damn the future.
(And to all a good night!)