For the past 20 years, New England Patriots fans have been accustomed to having a winning team, but there was a time when the Patriots couldn't get out of their own way, and the media let them know it.

Let's go back to 1981. It's the last week of the regular season and the Patriots were ending the season losing 8 games in a row, about to play the Colts who had an even worse record. They only thing on the line was a first round draft pick.

Bryant Gumble was the host of NBC's pregame show called NFL '81 and opened the show up with a feature about just how bad the Patriots were. So bad that they were playing guys no one had ever heard of and as reporter Pete Axthell coined it, "This is the Stupor Bowl."

You don't see that kind of honest reporting anymore where they say exactly how everyone feels about these bottom of the barrel teams. Some pretty harsh words there, but it's 2017 and the Patriots are headed to their ninth Super Bowl. No one would have thunk it 25 years ago.

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