CHA_CHING

Belichick really proved himself as the GOAT this past year. For him to win the SB with this specific squad that is weaker than a lot of past Patriots teams, it says a lot.

All we heard about all year long was how this Pats team was not that good. The usual arguments were ran repeatedly: "The AFC East! The AFC East! They're only good cause the AFC East!" People focus on the AFC East, as if the Pats don't dominate the rest of the NFL. The only division they have struggled with historically is the AFC West and that has mostly been because Denver and K.C. occasionally beat them. They dominate the AFC North and AFC South while having the highest win percentage since 2002 against the NFC conference.

I told people for months that they would blow through the AFC playoffs, and all along they argued with me non-stop every step of the way. The Chargers were supposed to beat them. Big LOL... The Chargers were the biggest pretenders in the AFC this year and the Pats easily rolled them (The Chargers needed a miraculous comeback against Pittsburgh and K.C. to even make the playoffs. They overachieved). The Chiefs horrible defense doomed them in the AFCCG.

I used to chat football on a Steelers forum and a lot of their fans often pointed to the 1989 team as one of Chuck Knoll's greatest accomplishments and proof that he was still a great coach after the 70's.

The '89 Steelers started the year out getting outscored 92 to 10 in their first two games (including a 51-0 shutout to the Browns). They some how pulled it together and made the playoffs at 9-7. 1989 was probably the height of the AFC Central division. That year, Cleveland made the AFCCG, Houston was in the playoffs, and Cincy had the best divisional record yet didn't even make the playoffs. Then there was Pittsburgh who struggled all year with their division, finishing 1-5, yet ended up in the playoffs with a negative -61 point differential. (Cincy finished 8-8 with a great point differential and should've been in the playoffs, but they went 2-6 in non-divisional games. By DVOA, the 1989 Bengals are one of the strongest 8-8 teams in history)

From there, they went into the Astrodome and took down the Houston Oilers (even getting Jerry Glanville fired over this loss) before losing 23-24 to Denver. That Steelers team had no business even making the playoffs and they had a deep run (and most likely would've beat the Browns in the AFCCG, after Pittsburgh handled them easily with a 17-7 win in Cleveland). They most likely get blown out badly in the SB, but it would've been an achievement to get there. They had no business even making the playoffs, let alone nearly being in the AFCCG.

Last year's Patriots reminded me of that Steelers team, except Bill B went the distance and won it all. Even had we reached the SB, I don't think we would've beat the Pats with how bad our offense had been playing for a month.

I can guarantee anyone that Bill B. would've game-planned to take away Thomas and Kamara, forcing yet another game of Brees trying to beat a team throwing to the cast of no-name receivers, as he had been doing for the past month. Meanwhile, it would've come down to us hoping and praying the defense could save the day again.