FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Ding dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.
Finally.
If you’re a football fan who has grown sick and tired of the sustained success of the Patriots and the smugness of their superstar quarterback Tom Brady, that undoubtedly was your emotion on Saturday night as you watched the underdog Titans end their season — and possibly Brady’s brilliant run in New England — with a gritty, 20-13 win at Gillette Stadium.
The Titans, who earned a playoff berth on the final day of the regular season, came into the Patriots’ house, where they’d won their previous nine playoff games, and stole their dinner.
Tennessee’s reward is a divisional-round date with No. 1-seeded Baltimore on Saturday night.
The Titans advanced in large part because head coach Mike Vrabel, a Patriots linebacker from 2001-08 and multiple Super Bowl champion with them, delivered a powerful and poignant message to his players during the week.
“Don’t pay attention to the pinstripes,’’ Vrabel urged his players, referring to the Yankees-like intimidation factor the Patriots own as a result of their nine Super Bowl appearances and six Lombardi Trophies since 2001.
“He played here, so he knows that half the teams are beaten before the games start, because of who they’re playing and where they’re playing,’’ said Titans running back Dion Lewis, who played with the Patriots from 2015-17.
“The whole thing was, you can’t get caught up looking at the pinstripes,’’ said Titans safety Logan Ryan, a Patriot from 2013-16. “They’re a championship organization. They got the best quarterback and the best coach. But we were just trying to win the game today. Mike preached that to the team and he brought a team of believers up here. We believed we could win.
“It’s hard to do this here. I know, because I’ve been on that side.’’
For Brady and the Patriots, who entered the game with a 12-4 regular-season record and AFC East champions for the 11th consecutive season, they now reside in an unfamiliar state of uncertainty.
The defending NFL champions have gone from a dynasty trying to reach a fourth consecutive Super Bowl and win a third Lombardi Trophy in the past four years to possibly seeing their remarkable run come to an end.
The talk that dominated the week in New England on sports talk radio, at the bars and around office water coolers from New Britain to New Hampshire was whether Saturday night might be the final game at Gillette Stadium for Brady — who finished a pedestrian 20-of-37 for 209 yards, no touchdowns and an interception.
Brady’s contract is up after this season. He’s 42 years old, has just closed out his most frustrating season in New England and has had his home on the market. Speculation has been rampant about whether he will remain in New England, retire or play elsewhere in 2020.
Brady, after the game, said it’s “pretty unlikely’’ he’ll retire, adding, “hopefully unlikely.’’
“I think we’re all running out of time and chances every year that goes by,’’ Brady said. “I don’t think I’m the only one in that category.’’
None of that, of course, matters to the Titans or their running back Derrick Henry, who rushed for 182 yards and a TD on 34 carries and was a handful all night for the New England defense.
With the Titans leading 14-13, the score at halftime, Brady got the ball back with 4:44 remaining in the game with a chance to turn this night into a familiar result. These are the moments that have defined perhaps the greatest quarterback of all time.
But he went three-and-out, with the Patriots punting the ball away from their own 37 after a Brady third-down pass sailed way over the head of Phillip Dorsett.
He would get the ball back one more time, 15 seconds remaining from his own 1-yard line and no timeouts, and throw a pick-six to Ryan, his former teammate, who returned it nine yards for the 20-13 lead with nine-seconds remaining.
“I appreciate TB12 for that one, man,’’ Ryan said. “That one’s going on my mantel.’’
If Brady is, indeed, done in New England, this was hardly the final play anyone would have expected.
“Who knows?’’ Ryan said when asked if he can imagine Brady wearing another uniform. “Tom Brady has given everything he has to the franchise and he’s earned the right to do what’s best for him. I have no idea. I’ll be watching the news just like you guys.’’