The Moment I Feared! © Slick Rick

The good news? The Patriots tied their own record by winning their 20th straight regular season contest 17-10 against the Kansas City Chiefs. The bad news? The season is over because Tom Brady is done for the season and will need knee surgery. Matt Cassel will be the New England Patriots starting quarterback for the remainder of the season. This means that there will be NO repeat trip to the Super Bowl this year barring a miracle. Fuck.

Do I think they should bring in another starting quarterback? Fuck no. Cassel has earned the chance to play after being with the team for 4 years and never starting. He knows the system and he's prepared. He did lead the Pats to a win in his relief effort last Sunday and his first ever NFL start will be next Sunday. With all that said, the Patriots are too good and too much of a veteran team to panic and/or be horrible. Problem is, this season was the last chance to go for the ring. After this season, the window is gonna close.

The Patriots at best will be a 9-7 or 11-5 at the best squad. This isn't good enough to win a Super Bowl or come out of the AFC. This was supposed to be the redemption season and it's all gone to shit now. In Boston, we're looking for championships and championship contenders. The defending World Series Champion Red Sox are trying to reclaim first place from the slumping Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Celtics are quietly working on adding parts that will help them defend their NBA Championship. The Bruins? The play hockey (or so I'm told..who gives a fuck?) and that leaves the team that kicked off this "let's win a bunch of shit and piss everyone else off in the 00's" era of Boston sports on the outside looking in.

I'm glad the Patriots won. I was impressed by the defense. I was impressed by the offensive line. I wasn't surprised. They've been here and done that. The Patriots winning on Sunday is almost as automatic to me as Fox News being racist. I'll be watching the Pats game every week like always but it's time to accept that the days of dominating the NFL, world beating and miracle wins that make the rest of NFL fans hate Boston are officially over now. Anyone that wants to gloat feel free. It's only fair considering that I've been to six different championship parades over the past 7 years for three different teams in three different sports (3 for the Patriots). Hate away.

One.