If I were a San Diego Chargers fan right now I'd probably feel a little bit like Dennis Green did after the Cardinals' loss to the Bears earlier this season. All week long the media had been talking down the Chargers. They admitted that on paper the Chargers were a superior team to the New England Patriots. However, they saw a coach with a history of losing in the Playoffs on the Chargers' side and a coach with a history of winning in the Playoffs on the Patriots' side. Therefore, many of them said, it was a foregone conclusion that the Chargers would lose to the Patriots.

It turned out that their prediction was correct. The Patriots won. Marty Schottenheimer proved yet again that he just can't win in the Playoffs. Bill "The Genius" Belichick and Tom "The Infallible Being" Brady took their extensive playoff experience and showed the Chargers how Playoff football is done. Right? Sorry, I'm not buying it.

The Chargers lost the game because they made several costly mistakes. Marlon McCree fumbled the ball after an interception. Eric Parker dropped a punt. Schottenheimer wasted a timeout by unnecessarily challenging a play. There were plenty of others, but as someone who watched almost every minute of the game I felt that the Chargers beat themselves more than the Patriots did. I don't think the results would've been any different had the Chargers had more "playoff experience." I think they just made too many mental mistakes and it cost them the game. I feel bad for the Chargers, because they deserved to go to the Super Bowl this year. Even though I'm not a Charger fan, there's something about this loss that affected me personally.

I was extremely offended by the media's treatment of this matchup. Just about everyone I heard was predicting a Patriot win because of their "playoff experience" and the fact that Schottenheimer's postseason record (especially in recent years) leaves much to be desired. If people had been making serious analyses of the matchup and predicting a Patriot win, that wouldn't have offended me. The thing that ignited my anger was that the majority of them were all but saying that certain players and coaches are simply born winners while others are born losers. As someone who's been an underdog before, I don't think there's ever been a football game not involving my own team that has meant more to me than yesterday's game. The sorry excuse for sports analysis that I'd been witnessing everywhere made me want to see the Patriots lose with a passion I normally reserve for my favorite sport, baseball.

The Patriots have become one of the NFL's elite franchises this decade due to their winning three Super Bowls. The Chargers have only won an AFL Championship in 1963 (which apparently doesn't count to most people, since it was pre-Super Bowl era), and been known as a laughingstock for most of their existence. That clearly defined the Patriots as "winners" and the Chargers as "losers." Even though this year's Chargers were the better team, the media (which, incidentally, is often accused of having an East Coast bias) put more stock in the Patriots franchise and their reputation.

Well, the media lucked out. The Patriots won the game, despite their "clutch" quarterback throwing three interceptions and only completing about 53% of his passes. Now all the people who evaluated the matchup through intangibles can look like the smart ones. Anyone who actually watched the game though, knows that New England was lucky to pull off a victory despite being outplayed.

Now the Patriots move on to Indianapolis. Peyton Manning and the Colts (who have plenty of "playoff experience") are another team that seems to be getting the "loser" rap. A lot of people are starting to talk about Manning being the next Dan Marino (outstanding individual stats at quarterback, but no championship). I don't think I'll be following the media's coverage of this upcoming game because I'm not in the mood to hear anymore talk about how "great" the Patriots are. Sadly, I doubt we'll hear much else until they're eliminated.

At least my Bears are in the NFC Championship Game. Though the Bears have historically been an "elite" franchise in the NFL, they've become more of an underdog in recent years. In fact, all the remaining teams except the Patriots have some underdog appeal. Who's going to end up with the Lombardi Trophy this year? Hopefully one of the underdogs, though I'm not as confident about it as I wish I could be.