Patriots Set for Playoff Run After Passing Last Test with Road Win over Chargers

The New England Patriots don't have anything left to prove. 

Frankly, there's no one left on their schedule to prove anything against anyway. 

With a Week 14 Sunday Night Football 23-14 win over the San Diego Chargers on the West Coast, the Patriots have done all they really need to do between now and the end of the season. Quarterback Tom Brady didn't put up crazy numbers, but he was darn good at 28-of-44 with 317 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. 

The Patriots won on the back of 20 unanswered points, which saw both their offense and especially their defense step things up considerably as the game went on. Though the offense deserves a lot of credit for scoring 10 in the fourth quarter, much of that was actually driven by defensive play. 

In fact, other than that aforementioned intensity, a lot of the ways one could look at this game start to lean toward the Chargers if anything. 

Brady said of his defense after the game, via Shalise Manza Young of The Boston Globe:

"

They were phenomenal. That was the key to the whole game, the way the defense played. We turned it over a couple of times, and we always hate doing that, but the blocked punt was huge, the interception was huge, and we kind of got momentum once we kicked the field goal [to go ahead, 16-14].

"

It was an intensity that the Patriots couldn't muster on the road just a week ago at Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers, and it's an intensity they'll need if they're going to make a deep run in a wide-open AFC playoff field. 

It's also an intensity they won't need for the next couple of weeks. 

See, the thing about the Patriots' schedule is that it's all but over. Yes, there are technically three games left, but it's at home (where the Patriots are all but unbeatable—especially this late in the season) against the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills and on the road only once against the New York Jets. 

The Patriots lost to the Dolphins in Miami in Week 1, but they have beaten the Bills and the Jets on their respective home turfs with a combined 64 points. The Pats going 2-1 is conceivable, but anything less would go totally against anything we've seen over the past 10 weeks. 

The Patriots are a lot like the high school senior who has the college acceptance and grade locked up but just needs to keep his nose clean for the finals to make sure he doesn't mess everything up. After the way they've played, it would be a monumental collapse if they didn't take care of business now. 

In fact, because of the back-loaded divisional schedule and the parity throughout the entire AFC this season, the Patriots have yet to actually lock up the division. But while the math still works so that the Dolphins could overtake the divisional lead if they win their last three and the Patriots drop three straight, with the way the Patriots are playing right now, that doesn't seem within the realm of possibility. 

The Patriots have done it all. 

They've won with passing, rushing, defense and special teams play. 

They've won when Brady has had off days. They've won when tight end Rob Gronkowski has been featured and when they've needed to go elsewhere with the ball. They've won with numerous backs having big days on the ground or through the air. 

This is not the Patriots team that put up historic passing numbers with Randy Moss and Wes Welker, but this team is starting to show the DNA of the Patriots team that was able to win a few Super Bowls with well-rounded play and an affinity for making the right plays at the right time with a whole lot of hustle and fundamental play. 

Since their early-season loss in Kansas City to the Chiefs, the Patriots have gone toe-to-toe with the NFL's best and have come out looking like one of the best teams in the league. Since that time, they're not only 8-1, but their only loss also came at Lambeau, and that was a close enough game that one can assume it may have gone differently in Foxborough. 

They're undefeated at home this season—an important note, as they're likely going to have home-field advantage in the playoffs—and have beaten the likes of the Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, Detroit Lions and now the Chargers. They've embarrassed both good and average teams alike and have seemed, at moments, to be easily the best team in the league. 

I'd like to say it's been all on Tom Brady, but it just hasn't. 

It hasn't been all on the brilliant coaching of Bill Belichick, either. 

Though, those common themes certainly have something to do with the success they've been having, and Brady's got an outside shot at MVP discussion if he plays lights-out over the last couple of weeks. Still, even if he doesn't, this team can win ballgames. 

No, this has been a full team effort. 

They've passed every test with flying colors. Now it's just time to finish strong.

Michael Schottey is an NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report and an award-winning member of the Pro Football Writers of America. Find more of his stuff on his archive page and follow him on Twitter.