That's precisely the way it's been for the locals these past five weeks, and as enjoyable as it was watching the Pats pound the crap out of all comers a year ago, the drama, excitement and importance of this recent stretch might've actually been a bit more enthralling from the fan's perspective.

But fun quickly turned to frown Sunday, when the Steelers came to Foxborough and - quite literally - smacked the

smile clear off the face of Patriots Nation.

Sure, the Patriots remain in the hunt for a playoff spot. They're just a game back for both the division lead and a wild card, and with the next three tilts presenting a trio of teams that have totaled just one more win this season (12) than the Tennessee Titans have by themselves (11), the schedule presents them an opportunity to pounce should a club ahead of them somehow slip up. Even with another loss, they wound up the weekend with only slightly worse hopes for the postseason than they held when it started.

But, really, who cares? As became crystal clear in the course of Pittsburgh's 33-10 throttling, it doesn't much matter whether the Patriots make the playoffs. Because they've got no shot of doing anything once they get there.

Until now, the case could've been made that there was cause for optimism - though the time has come to call a spade a spade, just as we'd call a Lion a Lion, or a Bengal a Bengal. Those are franchises stuck with a stigma of failure, both existing as Football's embodiment of Murphy's Law. And while the Patriots have been rightfully branded as the reverse for most of a decade, their model- team stereotype doesn't stand up this year.

That was built on the past, when we'd come weekly to assume the Pats would be the tougher and stronger team. The Pats would have the answer for everything. The Pats would find a way to win.

In 2008, however, they've proven mistake-prone and mentally overmatched. They're fumbling kickoffs and dropping passes. Getting beaten by the speed rushers and bullied by the heavy hitters. Being outplayed at the biggest moments and undone by the poor tackling of a weak secondary. And while those particular issues were specific to the Pittsburgh loss, they're hardly exclusive to a single afternoon.

There was the lackluster performance that had them trailing a two- win team from St. Louis in the fourth quarter despite the absence of Rams star Steven Jackson. There was the silly penalty, dropped touchdown and poor coaching that likely cost them a win at Indianapolis. There was the lack of punch that kept Buffalo close during a game in which the Bills weren't competitive. There was the defensive inability to stop New York when the Jets faced third and 15 in overtime. Then there was the ineffective pass defense that had Miami within a field goal in the fourth quarter.

New England managed to go 3-2 in that time, and that bottom line masked many of those concerns, but really those deficiencies should've been warning signs. Those seeing things through the rose- colored glasses - including yours truly - chose to view them as failings the Patriots could, and would, overcome. Just as they had before.

But that view changed as soon as the Steelers put up 13 points over a span in which the Pats ran just a single play. Including a couple of New England's five second-half turnovers, that ugly stretch turned a string of seemingly isolated incidents into a full- blown trend, and just as quickly turned the status of the season from dire to desperate to doomed.

And soon it will be done.

Whether they make the playoffs or not, it's darn near impossible to see the Pats winning seven of their next eight, which would now figure to be the prerequisite for a Super Bowl title. To this point they've yet to win more than two games consecutively, having been stuck in a win-one, lose-one pattern for six weeks, and it's not as if they're piling up the wins against top-tier competition. The combined winning percentage of the seven teams they've beat is .429 (36-48), and just once have they beat a team (the Jets) with a better record than their own.

To put it plainly, the Patriots are not playing winning Football. Offensively, their only third-down conversion came on Sunday's final snap, which was their 13th attempt. Defensively, they're the NFL's third-worst at stopping teams on third-down, and worst of all in the red zone. Even on special teams, their coverage units - both kickoff and punt - rank among the bottom third in Football.

That's failure in all three areas, and, furthermore, in what may be the most important aspect of each facet. That accurately suggests that when the game calls upon the Patriots to make the critical play, or spark a momentum swing via special teams, they're not doing what they used to do. They're not getting it done.

So while a light schedule may yet bail them out, and make possible a sixth straight AFC East championship, be sure to carefully savor the excitement of that run. Enjoy the ebb and flow of close competition. And relish the high-stakes of this regular season. But don't get your hopes too high.

Because the postseason - should it even matter - won't be much fun at all.

(Dave D'Onofrio can be reached at ddonofrio@cmonitor.com)