New England Patriots: All Too Familiar Fourth-and-One Bad Decision...

Because the New England Patriots beat the San Diego Chargers, many will say that Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have "undying confidence" to close out the game on a key fourth-down conversion.

If they had lost, though, those words would probably read more like "unequivocal cockiness."

Deja vu was in the air.

The Patriots had the Chargers right where they wanted them, in a 17-point hole in the fourth quarter. Despite the disparity on the scoreboard, the Chargers were still doing things, and never seemed fully out of the game.

With a solid touchdown drive at the midway point of the fourth quarter, the Chargers were within 10. In a shocking turn of events, San Diego's not-so-special teams converted an onside kick, despite chronicled struggles all season.

A three-minute drive ended with another touchdown and the lead was cut to three.

Uh-oh.

The Patriots stewed on the sideline, with yet another chance to put the game away for good. They had 2nd-and-3 on the Chargers 49-yard line, and looked primed to march down the field and kill the remaining three minutes off the clock, but two stops put them in a 4th-and-1.

If deja vu was in the air before, it was permeating through every breath Belichick took of San Diego air.

Those breaths became a lot quicker once they failed to convert.

We heard the x and y algebraic math that sounds more like a foreign language after Belichick elected to go for it on 4th-and-2 against the Colts in a similar situation last year; though it appears he actually made the wrong decision this time, I'm sure Belichick wasn't standing on the sideline with a calculator trying to figure out whether he should go for it or not.

It's clear that from the mixed results of these two instances, the math doesn't take into account the team that gets the ball as a result of the turnover on downs.

Of course, it would have helped if the Patriots didn't put themselves in that position in the first place. Tom Brady said after the game, "It's good to win the games when you don't play great...you've got to win these games when you have the opportunity."

What scares me, though, is what Brady said moments later: "I'll go for it every time."

Come on, Bill, do you really have to send me into cardiac arrest every week?

That, however, is simply the nature of the Patriots: They want to win games. This week, though, they managed not to lose the game.

I could go on for days about the questionable call. All Belichick had to say was, "If we made it, we could pretty much end the game right there. They made a good play, give them credit. They've got a good defense."

A bit more succinct than his response last year: "I thought we had a...I thought we would have...I thought we could make that yard."

One thing that stands out to me is that the Colts gave up 407 yards of total offense in that game, so picking up two more didn't seem like too much of a chore, even without any offensive rhythm in the fourth quarter.

The Chargers defense only gave up 179 net yards of offense to the Patriots on Sunday though, and they contested every yard like it was their last because, for all intents and purposes, this was the last hope for the Chargers season.

It didn't help New England that they opted to go for it against the league's No. 1 defense thus far.

Whether it was the "right" or "wrong" decision doesn't matter. Either way, it proved not to be the decision to cost them the game.

If things like this keep happening, though, fourth down may soon become a punchline when facing the Patriots.