I undoubtedly grew up in the best Boston sports era in the history of the city. In my lifetime, I have seen all four major sports teams win a championship. I saw the Red Sox break the curse, I grew up in the Brady/Belichick era, I witnessed the rise and fall of both the Bruins and the Celtics (key word being rise). Ultimately, I have seen the city of Boston show the rest of the country how it is done.

That being said, you could probably guess that I was a little upset at the loss a week ago in Denver, but I'm here to tell you why that loss might not be such a bad thing.

Alright, hear me out. Obviously it sucks to lose. It sucks to lose after all the tension surrounding Deflategate, it sucks to lose in Denver, it sucks to lose being one game away from the Superbowl. It's never a good feeling. Every time the Patriots make it that close and fall short it hurts. As it does with every team. I think there might be a silver lining in this loss, though. Was our ultimate goal to make it to San Francisco, win the Superbowl, and silently mock Roger Goodell as he handed Touchdown Tommy the trophy? Of course it was, but I think we already sent a pretty powerful message to Roger. We showed him that we do not accept defeat in the face of adversity. We took the controversy of Deflategate and used it to our advantage. Brady ate their criticism and snide remarks for breakfast and immediately turned it into touchdowns. Was it an unfortunate loss? No doubt about it. But it was a loss on the field, not a loss of our ultimate goal.

Another thing you should consider is that this is definitely Peyton Manning's last year in the league. There is absolutely no shot he comes back for another year without being killed on the field and he knows that. I know all New England fans are supposed to hate Manning, but I've never really been able to hop on that train. He's a great quarterback, he accepts his wins and losses, and, at the end of the day, he just loves to play the game. Sure, you could bring up the whole HGH controversy and whatnot, but if you honestly believe that he would cheat, you're a moron. He's as big of a competitor as they come. So, although the bane of our existence beat us, let's tip our caps to the Forehead. It's his last year in the league, and I wouldn't mind seeing him come out with a ring.

And last, but certainly not least, you need to take the Panthers in consideration.

They are one of the best football teams to ever exist. They have dominated the game this season and it is incredibly fun to watch. How the Falcons were ever able to beat them is beyond me. I honestly had no doubt that they were going to go 18-0, but I guess you never know. So, the Panthers being the Panthers, you need to either absolutely LOVE to watch them play, or you despise them to your very core. There is no in-between. Personally, I love to watch Cammy Cam dab all over his opponents and Luke Kuechly is legitimately Clark Kent so you just have to enjoy watching him intercept EVERYTHING. Since the Pats lost, we can now root for this incredibly fun team and watch them put on a hell of a show. Also, they're going to absolutely demolish the Broncos. So if you think the Patriots were anywhere near ready to take them on, you're lying to yourself and you need to be grounded back into reality immediately. The Panthers were always going to win the Superbowl, admit it.

(Superman or Luke Kuechly?)

So, maybe the fact that the Patriots lost isn't such a bad thing. I mean it sucks not seeing Brady get a fifth ring yet, but do you really think he isn't going to? Brady's going to play until he dies on the field, which will be in approximately 25 years by my guess, so he'll get his fifth ring. Actually he'll probably get another five after that and when he retires he'll just beat the living piss out of Goodell with all ten rings on both hands. God, I would love to see that.