Belichick's blunder was gutsy, but a blunder nonetheless

INDIANAPOLIS -- So many of us have put the guy on the highest of football-coaching pedestals that we didn't know quite how to react when we saw what we saw with 2:08 left on the clock.

Bill the Genius is going for it? Right here? Right now? No way.

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NFL Replay will re-air the Indianapolis Colts' 35-34 win over the New England Patriots on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 9:30 p.m. ET.

Wait, wait. Belichick's not actually going to run a play, we concluded; he's merely looking to draw the Colts' defense offside. Well, that does make sense. Get an anxious Colt defender to jump the gun, pick up 5 free yards, and the game is over.

No, wait. He is running a play. Yes, that's Brady throwing. Yes, that's Kevin Faulk catching the ball ... and being tackled a yard shy of the first-down marker. Yes, that's Peyton Manning to whom a 29-yard journey to the end zone and two minutes to do it have just been gift-wrapped.

And yes, that really was Belichick who just made -- I can't believe I'm about to type this -- one of the all-time goofiest decisions an NFL coach can make. And this is a coach that has a game plan on display in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and is generally regarded as the smartest man in the history of his profession.

Hard as many of us tried, we couldn't figure out exactly what possessed him to go for it and essentially give away a game that his team had played well enough to win.

You want to know how utterly stunning Belichick's call was? It became a larger topic of postgame discussion than the fact the Colts were still one of only two unbeaten teams in the NFL (along with the New Orleans Saints), held a four-game lead in the AFC South, and strengthened their grip on the inside track to home-field advantage in the playoffs