A funny thing happened this Saturday night: the New England Patriots lost.
After 10 straight playoff victories, after winning three Super Bowls over the span of four years, the Patriots were bounced from the NFL playoffs when the Denver Broncos capitalized on New England's five turnovers en route to a 27-13 win.
For the Patriots, this losing thing may take some getting used to. After all, before Saturday, New England head coach Bill Belichick was 10-0 in the playoffs as the Patriots skipper. Patriots QB Tom Brady was 10-0 for his playoff career as well -- an NFL record that won't be broken anytime soon, if ever. Just a statistic: New England hadn't lost a playoff game since Bill Clinton was in the White House.
Nevertheless, while New England's chance at becoming the first team ever to win three straight Super Bowls ended on Saturday night, the dynasty this team has built in Foxboro over the past five years will go down in football history. And, while competition is stiff for the title of greatest dynasty ever -- the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, the 1980s San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys of the early 1990s all jump to mind -- I argue that these New England Patriots have the NFL's strongest claim to that mantle.
First, unlike those other great teams, the Patriots assembled their remarkable streak during the NFL's new age of parity. Free agency and the salary cap have combined to create a league in which teams struggle to keep their players together, and the fortunes of any franchise can reverse completely from one year to the next. For example, this year, seven of the 12 teams that made the playoffs were not playoff teams last year; in the NFC, five of the six teams had missed the playoffs last year. Only Seattle is back for a return trip. Baltimore and Tampa Bay -- the only teams other than the Patriots to win a Super Bowl in this millennium -- each made a lightning-run to the top and haven't even sniffed a second title since. The modern-day NFL is actively designed to prevent the emergence of a dominant team like New England, which only makes the Patriots' recent success all the more remarkable.
Second, unlike the Steelers, 49ers or Cowboys of old, the Patriots won their Super Bowls without a roster chock-full of superstars. Players from those other dynasties are clogging the displays in Canton. For the Patriots, only Tom Brady is guaranteed an eventual spot in the Football Hall of Fame.
Brady himself is among the unlikeliest of stars -- a late-round draft pick who supposedly didn't have the arm strength or mobility to be a serious NFL prospect, a backup who only got into the starting rotation when franchise QB Drew Bledsoe went down with an injury. Even Brady seemed surprised by his own success, giving birth to that immortal moment when, after being declared the MVP of Super Bowl XXXVI and being informed that this title came with a prize car, Brady first shook his head in disbelief before taking the mic and assuring all his teammates that they could drive his new car whenever they wanted to.
Third, the Patriots achieved their success despite losing wave after wave of key players to injury. In Super Bowl XXXIX, New England beat a star-stuffed Philadelphia Eagles team with a secondary made up from second-stringers, third-stringers and one converted wide receiver. This year, you could have assembled a decent starting defense just from the Patriots' injured reserve list. That New England was able to keep on winning despite needing another fresh batch of reserves to plug the holes in the starting lineup each week is a testament to the quality of the team's coaching and the effectiveness of their practice schemes. I can't imagine another team that would have achieved so much success under such adverse conditions.
So, while Saturday was a sad moment for the Patriots and the team's fans, they can take comfort this offseason knowing that their recent run marks the greatest by any team in the long history of professional football. And, if past performance is any indication, I expect to see those very same Patriots challenging for another title next year. It wouldn't be the same as three-straight, but four Super Bowls in six years isn't too shabby.
