Foxborough, Mass. ? The only perfect thing about the Patriots was their record.

Now they don’t even have that.

Dominant in the first half of the season, they survived some close calls afterward. But that finally caught up with them in the Super Bowl and left them facing an offseason of what-ifs and what-will-bes.

What if their offensive line studded with three Pro Bowl players had kept the team’s most important player from being knocked down time after time in the most important game?

Will Randy Moss and Asante Samuel leave?

Will Rodney Harrison, Tedy Bruschi and Junior Seau, the three oldest defensive starters, retire?

And next time, will coach Bill Belichick hang around until the end of the game instead of heading for the locker room with a second left and a security escort Tom Brady would have envied?

The two-time Super Bowl MVP couldn’t elude the steamrolling pass rush of the New York Giants the way he does the paparazzi who stalk him on the streets of the city where the new Super Bowl champions will be honored at a victory parade Tuesday.

Brady was sacked five times in Sunday’s 17-14 loss, the most in his 92 games since the New York Jets did that in the third game of the 2003 season on Sept. 21, 2003.

So the Patriots finished 18-1 and disappointed, not 19-0 and historic. That left the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who were 17-0, as the only NFL team to go undefeated.

About 200 fans, though, turned out at Gillette Stadium on Monday night to cheer returning players. Belichick spent about three minutes slapping and shaking their hands. At one point, as about a dozen cameramen pressed in on him and blocked his path, Belichick pushed one aside.

“Bill, Bill, Bill,” one excited fan yelled.

“Thank you, coach,” said another.