The Pats Dynasty, In Memoriam.

Now that it's finally over, I contend that in fact this was actually a two-part dynasty (hey, ancient China had them). Part One was from '01 to '07 and ended with the famous Giants' Super Bowl loss. That's when I mistakenly pronounced they'd never win another title again.

In my defense the Pats did go the next three seasons without a playoff win so it appeared for a while that I was right. But then Part Two began. When exactly is a bit murky. You can argue that it started with their Super Bowl trip in '11 but it would be another three seasons before they would actually win one so YMMV. That season did start a ridiculous run of EIGHT straight times of at least advancing to the AFC title game, which is just ludicrous. In fact the Pats were a FG away from actually reaching FIVE STRAIGHT SUPER BOWLS

I feel a lot more comfortable administering the last rites this time around, seeing as both Brady and Belichick are now too old to go on yet another run of multiple titles. IMO their run really should have ended a decade ago but better late than never I guess. And may the NFL never see this sort of prolonged, infernal stretch by another team again (except for ours, I guess that would be okay ).

In all honesty, the Seahawks and Falcons both choked. They deserve credit for a great run from 2014 to 2018 but Carroll and Quinn essentially gifted them two of the three titles.

HalCHorn wrote:In all honesty, the Seahawks and Falcons both choked.  They deserve credit for a great run from 2014 to 2018 but Carroll and Quinn essentially gifted them two of the three titles.

That doesn't even cover the Panthers rallying from down 11 in the 4th to tie...only to hand Vinatieri the game winning FG by kicking off out of bounds. And then there's the Marlon McCree Incident. You know, the game where just before that play Schottenheimer is actually taped by NFL Films TELLING his defenders that if they get an INT, to go down immediately. I kid you not, that actually happened.

And of course the whole Tuck Rule thing that started it all...

Here's how absurd the Pats' run of this decade alone has been. Only one other team since 1960 reached as many as five straight conference title games ('73-77 Raiders). The Steel Curtain couldn't do it. The Walsh/Seifert Era 49ers couldn't do it. Neither the '60s-early '80s nor early '90s Cowboys could do it. Even the Lombardi Packers couldn't do it. The Bills reached four straight Super Bowls but never reached the AFC title game the seasons before or after. So when I see the Pats get that far EIGHT seasons in a row, at some point I have to ask myself if they really were that great or if the so-called competition was just that bad. After the 2010 Jets shocked them with one of the bigger playoff upsets ever, it really does seem like the rest of the AFC became determined to just roll over for the Pats from that point on until last night.

You have to go all the way back to the mid '40s to mid '50s Browns for the last time one team that a postseason run of success that long, and the Browns played in the AAFC the first four years of that span. Like the Pats, they had the same QB and coach the entire time they played for ten straight titles.