A good reminder

WEEK 15
49ers 41, Patriots 34 (12/16/'12): After a week of the experts putting the Patriots in New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII, the San Francisco 49ers reminded everyone that the NFL is a week-to-week deal. Following their beat-down of the Texans on Monday night, the Patriots were at the top of almost everyone's power rankings and the Dans of the world were booking flights for the Big Easy. Well, in the NFL nothing is easy.

That was obvious with about ten minutes left to play in the third quarter and the scoreboard reading Niners 31, Patriots 3. Not only were the Patriots getting beaten badly at home, they were getting beaten badly at home in the cold rain. In December. A very rare sight around these parts. The Niners were using a bruising defense and an opportunistic offense to knock the defending AFC champs around their own building. And the Pats were making it easier for them by piling mistake on top of mistake on top of mistake. In the cold rain,

It was ugly. Randy Moss was catching touchdown passes. Sophomores Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen were coughing balls up. Brady was getting sacked and harassed. Welker and Hernandez were getting beat up on every play. Here's how the Pat's first nine drives ended... punt, punt, interception, punt, fumble, field goal, punt, fumble, interception. Unstoppable? Hardly. It was about as bad as the Pats' offense with Brady has ever looked. But -- as we always do -- most people in the crowd felt that if Brady could just put a drive together that they could quickly get back in the game.

That's exactly what the offense did. In fact, the offense put together four straight touchdown drives to change a 31-3 game against the best defense in the league into a 31-31 battle with about eight minutes left to play. There are few offenses in the league that could have done that. Unfortunately ... the Pats had a few more mistakes left in them. Moments after Woody slammed the ball to the ground after scoring the tying touchdown, the Pats' special teams took a little nap and allowed kick returner LaMichael James a ridiculous 62-yard run back all the way to Pats' 38-yard line. One play later, Colin Kaepernick hit Michael Crabtree on a quick pass to the sideline and cornerback Kyle Arrington whiffed -- again -- on the tackle and Crabtree took it in for an easy touchdown. A great comeback was gone. As was the Pats' chance to control their shot at a first-round bye.

That's how it goes in the NFL. One week a team looks unbeatable. The next week it can't get out of its own way. That's what makes each week so important ... and so much fun. And that's what will make the playoffs even more fun when they start next month. Both the Patriots and the Niners will be there. And they will both have to play better than they did last night in the cold December rain.