FOXBORO, Mass. - And when it was over, after the Patriots had beaten the Chargers to win the AFC championship game and get to their fourth Super Bowl in seven years; after all the drama and another chapter in this most unbelievable of seasons; after another snapshot of this season that will live forever in New England sports history, there was another victory celebration on the field in Gillette Stadium, the emotion so real you could almost hold it in the palm of your hand.

The one we'd all been waiting for.

Most of the crowd of 68,000 remained in their seats as "Party Like A Rock Star" blasted throughout the stadium, confetti glittered in the air like tiny pieces of stardust, cameras flashed in the stands. The stage was on the 30-yard line and, once again, Foxboro, Massachusetts, had become the center of the football universe.

Robert Kraft was thanking the fans, Bill Belichick was thanking the players and Tom Brady was saying that the last quarter was what this team is all about, a team that did what it took to win a game on a cold day when they did not play their best.

He was right.

They did not play their best, not Brady anyway, from whom we've come to expect miracles every week, as if he's supposed to be Superman in cleats.

"I don't think we played as well as we could have," Brady said.

No matter.

They won the game they had to win, the game that gets them back to the Super Bowl and a chance to finish 19-0 and make history.

For hasn't this been the promise?

It's been there for a long time now, ever since the beginning of the season, when it became apparent the Patriots were a great team, rolling through their schedule like Sherman once marched through the South, leaving scorched earth in his wake.

This was the prize on the horizon, like Oz visible through the mist, another trip to the Super Bowl, the franchise's fourth visit in seven years.

That was the promise, and it had been there since September, as the opponents came and went, the weeks falling off the schedule, the Patriots moving inexorably toward football immortality.

This was the promise, through all the Bill Belichick press conferences, through all the clichés about taking things one game at a time, each opponent built up as if they were Lombardi's Packers.

This was the promise through the past 17 games, this team doing what no one had else had done in 35 years, playing against history as well as their opponents.

This was the promise.

Sunday it got delivered in the bone-crunching cold in Gillette Stadium on a January afternoon.

Not that it was always pretty. Not that it was what we've come to expect, Brady being intercepted three times, the incredible offensive explosion we've come to expect nowhere to be found, lost in the cold and a tough, opportunistic, San Diego defense. Not a game where all the suspense was over early, like so many others have been this year. Not a game that will live for the ages on some highlight film, one that people will one day pout over to remember how great this team was.

Maybe the best word was efficient, the Patriots taking a 14-6 lead shortly before the half ended, courtesy of an Asante Samuel interception that gave them the ball on the San Diego 24-yard line.

After that?

After that the Chargers were chasing the Pats, a football version of running uphill.

It was 14-9 at the half. The Chargers had been knocking on the Pats' goal line but having to settle for field goals. Ultimately, that would be San Diego's undoing, its inability to score a touchdown.

But after the Chargers had cut the Patriots lead to 14-12 midway through the third quarter, the Pats answered with a fourth-quarter drive for a touchdown to go ahead 21-12, a lead the Chargers could never make up.

For this was a Patriots' team doing enough of the little things to win this game and keep this magical season alive, the kind of things that win football games, whether on some sun-drenched September afternoon, or in Sunday's cold.

It was the defense keeping the Chargers out of the end zone three times when it looked like they were going to score touchdowns, the same defense that had been taking heat for the past month or so. Or, as linebacker Mike Vrabel said, "It was probably our turn to win a game."

It was Laurence Maroney having his second 100-yard-plus game in these playoffs.

It was veteran Kevin Faulk, another unsung hero, making big catches in the fourth quarter to keep drives alive and keep the Chargers off the field.

And, ultimately, it was Brady and the offense, making enough first downs in the fourth quarter to keep killing the clock, every minute that went by getting this team closer to the Super Bowl.

And when it was over, after the on-field celebration, and after the Lamar Hunt Trophy had been given to the Patriots, and the big crowd had left, and Belichick had lauded the players in his postgame press conference, and an emotional Junior Seau said that this team has a chance for football immortality, only one game away; after all of it, the reality was that this incredible season continues.

For this has been the promise for a long time now.

The promise that was delivered Sunday.