For a team and a quarterback that were supposedly both done, a convincing 43-17 victory over a previously undefeated opponent seems like a funny way to show it.

The obituary for the Patriots dynasty and Tom Brady’s status as an elite quarterback were both complete after the Patriots were embarrassed both offensively and defensively by the Kansas City Chiefs eight days earlier in a 41-14 thrashing on Monday Night Football. A second-consecutive national primetime game against the Cincinnati Bengals ”“ who were entering the game with a 3-0 record and coming off a bye week ”“ on Sunday Night Football appeared likely to be further proof in the pudding that Tom and his team were toast.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Patriots’ unavoidable demise. The Patriots looked like the Patriots of old, and so did Brady, who hit Brandon LaFell on a 20-yard pass on New England’s first play en route to a 292-yard, two-touchdown performance.

The result was a complete 180-degree turnaround from the Monday Night-mare against the Chiefs. It also showed once again why instant analysis is an unwise venture in today’s NFL.

The NFL is a matchup league. It’s a game plan league. It’s also a circumstance league. All three of those helped out the Patriots on Sunday night. The Chiefs proved to be a matchup nightmare for the Patriots a week ago, as KC’s two star defensive ends, Justin Houston and Tamba Hali, ate up the Patriots’ musical chairs offensive line. On the other side of the ball, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and running back Jamaal Charles proved to be uncoverable.

Oh, and the fact that the Chiefs have one of the biggest homefield advantages in the league, playing in raucous Arrowhead Stadium, didn’t help either.

Because the Patriots had one less day to prepare for their matchup with the Bengals, head coach Bill Belichick decided to skip full-team film study of the loss, trying to move past a team-wide bad performance. Belichick failed to answer any questions about the loss in his league-mandated mid-week press conference ”“ unless you consider repeatedly uttering “we’re moving on to Cincinnati” as answering a question.

But the tactic, and the motivational thinking behind it, worked to a tee. The offensive line was greatly improved against a good Bengals pass rush. The defense held its own against dynamic running back Giovani Bernard, and prized cornerback Darrelle Revis all but shut down All-Pro wide receiver A.J. Green.

A raucous Gillette Stadium crowd didn’t hurt, either. Fueling the crowd’s fire was none other than Brady, who looked like a top-five quarterback again. The crowd showed its appreciation of and for Brady with multiple chants of “Bra-dy! Bra-dy!”

The sky stopped falling over Patriot Place suddenly on Sunday night. To many fans and armchair quarterbacks, the Patriots’ victory was a surprise. To more than just a few analysts, it wasn’t. Both Tony Dungy ”“ the former Indianapolis Colts coach ”“ and former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison picked the Patriots to win on NBC’s pregame coverage of the game. They weren’t alone. (In full disclosure, so did yours truly).

Dungy and Harrison both ran down the list of why the Patriots shouldn’t win, among all the things that were going wrong for the team, then completed their respective thoughts with why they could ”“ and would ”“ win.

All was not lost with the 2014 Patriots. That much was proven on Sunday night. They are far from perfect, but they are far from dead.

So before you are ready to declare the Patriots as anything, just wait a week. In the NFL, a team’s forecast changes as much and as quickly as the weather in New England.

— Wil Kramlich is a sports writer in the Journal Tribune newsroom.