Week eight
The game: Patriots at Bills
The beer: Wachusett Green Monsta India Pale Ale
The result: Win, 25–6

Week nine
The game: Packers at Patriots
The beer: Urban Chestnut Zwickel German-Style Lager
The result: Win, 31–17

Week ten
The game: Patriots at Titans
The beer: Tuckerman 6288 Stout
The result: Loss, 34–10

Week eleven (bye)
The beer: Ipswich Pumpkin Porter

The commentary: TITLETOWN, U.S.A. – Item! It’s good to be a New England sports fan. Not all good, though, as entitlement lingers.

Pro
Since the 2001/02 NFL season, the Patriots (five), Red Sox (four), Celtics (one), Bruins (one, but who cares) and Revolution (just kidding, I have no idea) have dominated the American sports landscape. Eleven titles in seventeen years, alongside five more championship appearances (three by the Pats, one by the Celtics and who cares by the Bruins). It’s a remarkable turn for the region’s self-esteem.

Con
I care mostly about the Patriots—that remark last month about not being able to name more than three Sox players was no joke, nor is the fact that whenever I see a #7 BROWN Celtics jersey I think it’s for Dee Brown—and whenever they don’t win Super Bowls it’s plain demoralizing. The world’s smallest violin plays for me, sure, but put Erich Zann on that sucker.

Pro
Tom Brady is our quarterback, no matter his inconsistency this season.

Con
Our defense is our defense, no matter its consistency since January 21, 2007.

Pro
Coach Bill Belichick’s scheming and in-game adjustments usually work out alright. “Slants and in-cuts!”

Con
General Manager Bill Belichick’s talent evaluation and roster management are subpar and, maybe, deliberately handicapped. “Let’s see how many games I can win with this bunch.”

Pro
The Chiefs lost Monday night!

Con
The Chiefs scored fifty-one points Monday night. It’s popular around here to compare this year’s Pats to 2009’s, famous for “I just can’t get these guys to play the way I want them to.” Instead I see the 2005 team: exhausted, scattershot and underachieving. They probably need home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and I don’t think they can win out (in conjunction with another Chiefs loss) to achieve it. But man, if we can get Gronk, Edelman, James White, Josh Gordon and Sony Michel on the field at the same time? (See you in Atlanta.)

Pro
Twelve thousand words! Trout Mask Replica is my mountaintop, never to be conquered.

Con
It’s also my white whale, leaving madness, inertia and ruin in its wake. I don’t know that Biff! Bang! Pow! will remain active much beyond annual playlists, quarterly beer-and-football updates and, eventually, a short story about a dwarf (har! har!) that’s been in development hell for years. See? I’ve already run out of pros and cons. The internet weeps.

Up next: Oh good, we have three NFC division matchups on Thursday. Happy Thanksgiving!