RE: Patience or Mercy?
18-1 .....same as the 1985 Bears. Well, not really. They lost their one game during the regular season.
They WON SuperBowl XX and were the Champs!,
not LOST TO A 13 1/2 point UNDERDOG!
McGuire, Sosa, Bonds.......all had more games per season / carreer than Aaron, Maris and Ruth. The records are worded "Career" and "Season", not "over X# of games".
The Pats lost the SuperBowl.
No perfect season.
The '72 Dolphins won ALL of the games they played that season. They were perfect. The Patriots weren't. Sorry....
Be a man, get past it and stop making excuses.