DUBLIN — Thanks to their team’s popularity with network schedule-makers, Patriots fans have been asked twice in December to attend games in prime time, long after the sun has gone down.

I concede that traveling to Foxborough and home again on a cold winter’s night — with the wind chill making it feel like it was in the 20s Sunday night, and the 41-34 loss increasing the shivers — demonstrates an admirable devotion. But it hardly compares with a sports-themed road trip I took with a couple of Irish neighbors a few seasons back.