Lingering thoughts as the Patriots' Super Bowl loss wears off...

As I mentioned in the column I wrote on Sunday night, watching the Patriots lose to the Eagles in Super Bowl 52 was disappointing, but not devastating.

(The only part that actually was devastating was seeing Tom Brady fumble the ball on New England’s last chance drive to win the game. That was brutal.)

The actual loss itself, though? I handled it surprisingly well. Seeing the Pats win Super Bowl 49 against Seattle will probably forever be one of the top five greatest days of my life. Why? It was the first Patriots championship that I wasn’t a little kid for. Malcolm Butler’s goal line interception is my all-time favorite football moment, and good luck topping it. And then two years later, I watched the Patriots come back from down 28-3 to win Super Bowl 51. That’s two Super Bowl titles in three years. Those memories will last forever.

So that’s why losing on Sunday didn’t totally tear me apart. Doesn’t mean it didn’t sting a little bit though. After all, the Pats were so close. Had they just been able to prevent Nick Foles from connecting with Zach Ertz on fourth-and-one in the fourth quarter, they probably would’ve won. But oh well. It’s now Thursday, and the sting of that loss is wearing off. And the few days post Super Bowl have been interesting, to say the least.

Here are a few lingering thoughts in my head as the Super Bowl 52 loss continues to wear off…

… Almost immediately after Sunday’s game ended and it hit me that the Eagles had defeated the Patriots in the Super Bowl, I was surprisingly happy for the city of Philadelphia and their fans. That city has endured some pretty crappy sports over the years. It’s been years since the Sixers have made any noise, although they have mastered the “tanking for a lottery pick” game better than anybody. The Phillies won the 2008 World Series and then made it back again in 2009. But that was a decade ago and not much has happened since. But then the 2017 Eagles just kept winning, even after superstar quarterback Carson Wentz blew out his knee in December, and they kept winning all the way to their first championship in franchise history. So yeah, I was happy for Philly fans. But then they started one of the most outrageous riots I have ever seen, more or less tearing their beloved city limb from limb. They were flipping cars over, setting buildings on fire, ransacking and robbing convenience stores, tearing down light poles … and that’s just for starters. I’ve heard of crazy things happening when a city celebrates a professional sports championship, but I have never heard of anything this extreme. So it’s safe to say that I’m not happy for those fans anymore. They don’t deserve to win championships if it only means they are going to destroy their city. If I’m an Eagles fan, that Super Bowl 52 victory is forever tarnished.

… Remember that amazing aerial shot during Justin Timberlake’s halftime show where the entire city of Minneapolis was lit up purple? That was pretty incredible. I wonder how much that cost.

… On a non-football note, spring training is only a week or two away, and the Red Sox haven’t made any offseason moves, other than resigning Mitch Moreland (yay?). This ordeal with J.D. Martinez is taking somewhat of an embarrassing turn. He was supposed to be Boston’s big offseason acquisition, and now there have been reports that he’s “fed up” with the Red Sox? All I know is that they have to find some way to get this deal done. If the Red Sox go into the 2018 season without Martinez, or without having made any moves, what is that going to say about Dave Dombrowksi? This is getting crazier than an Eli Roth movie.

… On another non-football note, the NBA trade deadline has arrived and … unbelievably … incredibly … mind-bogglingly … poor Isaiah Thomas has been traded again … to the Lakers. I dropped my jaw when I heard the news. If at this time last year, you had told me that in exactly 12 months, my favorite Celtic player was going to be a Laker? Well, I’m not sure if I would’ve laughed or cried. But there is no way in hell I would’ve believed you.

… Alright, I have to at least acknowledge the whole Josh McDaniels situation. It is what it is. It’s odd. It’s bizarre. It’s a little confusing. It’s too eerily similar to what Bill Belichick did to the Jets back in 2000.

(For those of you that forgot, or for those of you that didn’t watch “The Two Bills,” it had been arranged for Belichick to succeed Bill Parcells as the head coach of the Jets. And then he took the podium at his introductory press conference and stunningly announced his resignation as Jets head coach. Later on, he was announced as the new head coach of the Patriots, and Jets fans were scarred for life. Good times.)

Now McDaniels has spurned the Colts, agreeing to become their head coach before suddenly backing out and returning to his job as New England’s offensive coordinator. It was a very interesting and bizarre chain of events. If I was an Indy fan, I’d be furious. After all, how many times can the Colts keep getting one-upped by the Patriots? It’s been happening for years. But it can only mean one thing: when Belichick steps down, whenever that time comes, McDaniels has basically already been chosen to take his place. That has to be it, because it would take a miracle for McDaniels to get another coaching offer somewhere else after this.

And now I’m thinking about it … Josh McDaniels as the head coach of the Patriots? A guy who has spent years learning the Belichick system? A guy who has spent years working for the best football coach of all time? The guy who has been in charge of making New England’s offense what it is? I’m not going to lie, I like the sound of that.