It began at 7:05 AM, when a former student emailed me to express condolences for the Patriots’ Super Bowl loss.
I think she was being sincere, but she was in my classroom for a year, so she may have been acting underhandedly and cruelly. Reminding me of the pain of watching my favorite team lose.
I can’t be sure.
This was followed by numerous expressions of condolence throughout the day — a near-constant stream of genuine, heartfelt, sincere outpouring of sympathy from friends, colleagues, clients, students, and more.
Very little ridicule.
It was both surprising and kind.
Also unnecessary.
As a lifelong Patriots fan and longtime season ticket holder, I very much wanted the Patriots to win their seventh Super Bowl, but I was also still basking in the glory of this unexpected, joyous, and satisfying season.
Last year, the Patriots won just four games, and things were looking bleak. After two decades spent at the top of the football world, the team felt down and out. It would be a long, hard slog, I thought, before this team is great again.
During Tom Brady’s two decades of dominance, my friend, Shep, and I would sit in the stadium and continually remind ourselves of how lucky we are to be experiencing this level of football greatness.
We know it couldn’t last, though truthfully, it lasted far longer than either of us ever expected.
The Brady left, and the team slowly descended into mediocrity, winning just four games in each of the previous two seasons.
Then change swept into Gillette Stadium in the form of a new coach, a bounty of well-chosen free agents, and, perhaps most important, a draft class that saw every single player make the team and play critical roles throughout the season.
This almost never happens. Every player drafted by the Patriots in the spring of 2025 was playing for the team when they arrived at the Super Bowl, along with two undrafted players. Granted, a large part of the reason we lost was two of those rookies who couldn’t hold up under the pressure of the Seattle pass rush, but that is to be expected from young players.
The takeaway:
We have a young team with a solid base of players and a head coach and executive team that seems to understand how to identify talent.
I never could have imagined that the team would go from four wins to 14 wins in a single season and find themselves competing for the championship.
That alone was enough for me. The Patriots’ return to greatness made for a fun, exciting, and happy season of football. A Super Bowl victory would’ve been incredible, but finishing as the second-best team in the league was pretty damn good.
The Patriots have won the Super Bowl six times and lost it six times — four more appearances than any other team and tied for the most victories of all time.
The first time the Patriots lost to the Chicago Bears, in 1985, I wept. It was an embarrassing defeat at the hands of one of the greatest teams of all time.
The second time they lost, to the Green Bay Packers in 1986, I threw a shoe through a wall.
When they lost to the NY Giants on a ridiculous helmet catch in 2007, after going 16-0 in the regular season, I was upset for weeks. I couldn’t bring myself to even turn on sports for a long, long time.
I’m still upset about that one.
When they lost to those same Giants in 2011 on another ridiculous catch, I was annoyed for months.
When they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017, I was furious. Bill Belichick had benched one of our best cornerbacks for undisclosed reasons, and it almost certainly contributed to the loss.
I’m still annoyed about this one.
But this year, when they lost to Seattle, I was okay. I was sad, of course, and a little disappointed, but I also thought we had arrived ahead of schedule for the Super Bowl. The team — fourth youngest in the league — wasn’t quite experienced enough to conquer this mountain yet.
Just being on the mountain was pretty great.
So no condolences required, as much as they are appreciated. It was a hell of a football season.
I loved watching this team, both in person and on television.
I expect that the team will be quite good for the next decade or more.
The Patriots’ future is very bright.
The team is poised for another run at the championship next season.
I had lots and lots of fun this season.
Thank you, New England Patriots, for a glorious and happy football season.
Let’s get ’em next year.
