The Patriots did what they had to do to win the game. The Chargers didn't. They were the better team, but they got beat. Yes, they made mistakes, but so did the Pats. Who charged the other for those mistakes? We all know who did.

I've seen all the Patriots wins, but I haven't seen one like this before. They weren't the better team. No doubt they Chargers have a great team. Wow. What the Pats showed was enormous resilience, and the desire to win. They refused to quit. They were grinders in the best sense of the word. They never gave up.

Proud men. They should be. And far moreso than the Chargers, who made one foolish mistake after another. Something the Pats didn't do.

The Chargers have far more talent. The Patriots have the better team.

YA BETTA THAN THAT LT YA BETTA THAN THAT

I don't see anyone criticizing the most bone headed coaching decision of the day. Maybe because it was Belichik's? Fourth and five at the SD 40 something. Six minutes to go. Your defense, which has given up 7 points this half has played well. Do you pooch punt , giving your opponent a long field and asking your defense to do what it has done every time this half but the last and get the ball back or do you go for it? Belichik goes for it. I know they were the best fourth down team in the league (no other had tried it half as often) but your percentages are still lousy. I know Brady is your best player but I think if you play out this situation 100 times punting and 100 times going for it the punting will prove to be the better play.

But it seems Belichik has borrowed the Celtic leprechaun's four leaf clover. He goes all in with 72o and after his opponent hits trips on the flop, he gets runner runner and remains in the game. I guess this is why he's a 'genius' and Schottenheimer is a 'chump'?

Ideally, McCree bats down the ball realizing the field position will be better but he is trained to make the interception and it is an error of effort. Most coaches will forgive effort errors. His technique protecting the ball is perhaps another matter.

Coaches are supposed to put their teams in a position to win. The Charger coaching staff had that team in position to win the game through every play. The players didn't execute when the chips were down, and they had some bad luck.

When Schott was hired I moaned and groaned. I remembered the year his first string QB was injured in KC and Rich Gannon led the team to the best record in the AFC (5-1 down the stretch, I think) . Marty had promised his first string QB he wouldn't lose his job to 'injury' and, true to his word when Grbac (or was it Bono?) returned for the playoff game, Gannon was demoted, the offense was out of sync and they were trounced. It was a bad decision and I foresaw many of them here. But he's won me over for the most part. This team is exponentially better than when he arrived. He's been flexible in his game planning and assistant coaches and has put the team and the organization first. I hope management realizes that the team of Smith and Marty have equal weight in this success and he gets another year.