The only thing harder than rooting for a team that doesn’t win, is rooting for one that’s supposed to win.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love having the hometown Patriots as Super Bowl contenders year after year. It’s nice having Tom Brady as my quarterback instead of Chris Redman. And the games are far more entertaining than watching the Eagles and Jets in a glorified, unimpressive multi-million-dollar Pop Warner clash.

But as I’ve quickly discovered, rooting for the Patriots, or the Yankees, or the Spurs and the University of Florida isn’t as easy as it looks. Not because Brady fathered a child with an actress trying to cash in on fleeting fame. Or because Bill Belichick doesn’t give the mainstream media the access they want, or feel entitled to. And yet, try and compare it to rooting for a team like the Buffalo Bills, or the Red Sox before October 2004, where the only expectations are two-fold: defeat and disappointment?

Compare it to rooting for a team where only titles are acceptable and everything else, catastrophic failure.

There’s no room to enjoy the small victories. The fifth straight AFC East title. The fluke victory in Baltimore on Monday Night Football. Beating the Colts, the fake sound and the officiating in Indianapolis. Those moments only matter if the story ultimately ends with a victory in Glendale, Arizona on the first Sunday in February and a parade down Boylston Street two days later.

What Coach Belichick has accomplished getting his team to consistently believe they’re disrespected is downright amazing. And now, three victories away from a perfect regular season record? Almost comical. What else can you actually use? How far can one successfully distort verbatim? One thing is certain, if his team actually believes him, Belichick is the best Spin Doctor on the planet, because our own human nature has everybody outside of his locker room looking ahead to Super Bowl XLII a month-and-a-half from now.

There in lies the problem: If the guys in the locker room are too busy buying into their own hype, they’ll never play in that game. If somewhere between setting records and going undefeated, an aging and vulnerable defense lets Joseph Addai run wild, they’ll be stopped dead in their tracks, on their home turf and Belichick will be breaking down game film of draft picks instead of the NFC Champion.

Sure, the Patriots will be the AFC’s top seed. They’ll be playing off a bye-week and haven’t traveled further than Dallas this season. They’ll likely play a warm-weather team on a Saturday Night in the Divisional Playoffs. And they’ll likely get a domed team -- the Colts -- in the AFC title game.

The road is paved. The execution is still up in the air.

Both the Chargers and Colts have the tools to shut down the Patriots offense, not defensively but offensively. Addai and LaDainianTomlinson have had tremendous success in the past against New England and both could expose one of the older defensive units in the league. Both could help their teams immensely through the running game and the short passing game, eating up clock and putting the pressure on Brady and his offense to produce. And both teams have a pass rush capable of forcing Tom Brady out of his rhythm and into turnovers.

It has happened before and it will ultimately happen again. After stopping the highly charged Bills offense in Super Bowl XXV and the "Greatest Show on Turf" Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, it is Belichick's turn to lead an offense he's successfully defended against.

To be perfect. There's absolutely no room for error. And there's no such thing as a guarantee in the NFL.

Keep it in mind before handing the Patriots the trophy. There's still a lot of football yet to be played.