John Steigerwald: Patriots QB Tom Brady looked his age without Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown

The Patriots’ party appears to be over.

They won’t be going to the Super Bowl this year, and they won’t even be going to the AFC championship game, which you might have thought was on their schedule since they had been to eight consecutive. They’ve also reached the Super Bowl three straight seasons and played in four of the last five and nine since 2002.

Losing to the Tennessee Titans at home in the first round of the playoffs Saturday was very un-Patriots-like, but no playoff loss should be a reason to panic. It’s only one game against a presumably high-caliber opponent.

But the reason the Patriots were playing this weekend instead of getting a bye was a loss to the Dolphins in the final week of the regular season.

Yeah. The Dolphins.

At home.

Saturday was their third loss to a playoff team since Dec. 1. They lost in Houston that day and followed that with a loss to the Chiefs at home a week later. After winning in Cincinnati, the Patriots came home and beat Buffalo, which lost its playoff game in Houston on Sunday.

The Patriots have lost four of their last six and five of their last nine. That’s sub-.500 for more than half a season.

Did I mention that they lost a must-win game to the Dolphins? At home?

Might be time to at least consider panicking as an option.

Right about now, you might be asking how the Steelers lost to them 33-3 in Week 1 with Ben Roethlisberger.

The Patriots won their first two games this season by a combined score of 76-3 when they beat the Dolphins, 43-0, in Miami.

Their hot start and their weak schedule had lots of people talking about another undefeated season.

Now they’re talking about whether Tom Brady will have another season at quarterback, and, if he does, will it be in New England?

As recently as last year, there were serious sports journalists calling Brady the greatest team sport athlete in North American history.

To be the greatest team sport athlete you have to, you know, play on pretty good teams.

Ask Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan.

Brady is old, but he’s been too old to be a great quarterback for at least three years.

Do you think he missed Gronk?

You remember Gronk.

Rob Gronkowski is the 6-foot-6, 268-pound tight end who averaged 15 yards per catch before retiring last season.

The guy without whom Brady and the Patriots wouldn’t have won last year’s Super Bowl and with whom they would have beaten the Titans on Sarurday.

If Gronk hadn’t been there last February, the conversation about Brady being the greatest team sport athlete probably would not have started.

Imagine what the Patriots would look like if Antonio Brown hadn’t flamed out after one game. They might still be undefeated.

You will be hearing a lot about how Brady has begun to show his age, which should be expected of a guy who is going on 43. He threw for 300 or more yards once in his last 11 games and completed 60% or more of his passes twice in his last 10.

Despite playing for the team that led the NFL in screen passes (according to Jim Nantz on CBS’s coverage of Sunday’s game) he finished at 60.8.

In case you didn’t know, 60 is the new 50, and anything under 60 really stinks.

Call me crazy, but I think his percentage would have been a lot higher with a 6-6, 268-pound freak running through secondaries.

No need to mention how many more 300-yard games he would have had with Brown as a target.

It’s almost like football is a team sport and a quarterback’s greatness depends a lot on who’s blocking for him and who’s out there trying to catch his passes.

Add those two guys to the Patriots roster next year and wait for the stories about how Tom has found the Fountain of Youth.