For Kraft, Brady and Belichick, is this the beginning of the end?

— -- THE PROBLEM WITH living your life under the spotlight is that the camera captures only the public eruption, not the months of silent anger. On Dec. 3, when the New England Patriots played the Buffalo Bills, Tom Brady walked to the sideline after throwing late and behind receiver Brandin Cooks on third down, ending a first-quarter drive. Brady was angrier and more irritable than usual, as has often been the case this season in the eyes of some Patriots players and staff. As he unsnapped his chinstrap, Brady passed offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels on the sideline.

"He was wide open," McDaniels said to Brady, referring to Cooks.

Brady kept walking, and glaring at McDaniels, so the coach repeated: "We had him open."

Brady snapped, pivoting to McDaniels and yelling at him, "I got it!" Everyone within earshot, including head coach Bill Belichick, turned to watch as Brady screamed. He removed his helmet, and as a Patriots staffer held him back -- and with McDaniels' father and legendary high school coach in Ohio, Thom, in the stands behind the bench -- capped off the exchange by yelling, "F--- you!"

Video of the scene went viral, with many rationalizing it as a symptom of Brady's legendary competitiveness. Brady would later apologize to McDaniels, who dismissed the incident to reporters as "part of what makes him great." After all, many in the Patriots' building knew that Brady's explosion wasn't really about McDaniels. It wasn't about Cooks. And it wasn't about the Bills game. It was about the culmination of months of significant behind-the-scenes frustrations. For almost two decades, Belichick has managed to subvert the egos of his best player, his boss and himself for the good of the team, yielding historic results. This year, though, the dynamics have been different.

A FEW HOURS before the Patriots played the New York Jets in the regular-season finale, Belichick walked straight out of the locker room and out to the field. It was 13 degrees before kickoff with subzero wind chill, the coldest regular-season game in team history, but he was wearing a short-sleeve T-shirt, shorts and receiver gloves. Pictures of him went viral, and for a moment it was reminiscent of a legendary playoff game 16 years earlier, when the Patriots played the Raiders in the snow. That night, Brady once recalled in an NFL Films interview, he took the field for warm-ups wearing a sleeveless T-shirt in the thick snow. He was 24 years old, at the beginning of a career only he saw coming. He wanted to send a message to everyone watching that nobody was tougher, both mentally and physically, than this California kid. That night, Brady showed that he was immune to the stage, a deficit, the weather and a stout defense. It was clear that the Patriots had something special, both at quarterback and under the headset, and it created a moment, both emboldening and addictive, that has lasted far longer than anyone could have expected.

On Sunday, the moment -- their moment -- seemed as alive as ever, to the outside. Belichick ordered the field crew to hang thermometers in the hallway outside of the Jets' locker room, just to mess with a franchise he still hates so much that he barely mentions his years there in the Patriots' media guide. The game unfolded like many have for the Patriots this year, with Brady looking mortal at times and like an MVP at others. As usual, the Patriots won. It didn't look like Belichick's last regular-season game as the Patriots' head coach, but several coaches and staffers later remarked to one another that it felt as if it could be. As Brady and Belichick left the field, bundled up in the cold, the only thing clear was that the beginning of the end started a long time ago, masked by success and the joy and pain of the rise, leaving both men this year's playoffs and their collective will to stave off the fall.