Last week’s column was, honestly, a bit of a cheap shot. Not that it’s unfair to pick on the Patriots — they have all the earmarks of the “easy to hate” franchise. The thoroughly despisable head coach, a cheating scandal, a star safety who was busted for his use of performance-enhancing drugs and a quarterback who seems to be just a bit too much of a media darling. Even with all his myriad accomplishments, I’m just not sure I ever need to know whom a quarterback is dating — and that goes for you too, Tony Romo. Save that stuff for Entertainment Tonight, not SportsCenter.

But of course, the number one reason the Patriots are so easy to resent is they’re just too good. They’ve taken a lot of the uncertainty out of the competition this year, and I miss the days when I honestly wasn’t sure who would win the Super Bowl months in advance. Sports fans love the underdog and, no matter who the Pats play, they’re never that.

So the column last week was perhaps cheap in that it was easy to write and hard to argue against — which is why I’m going for something a bit different this time around when I say that Philip Rivers may be the only man on the planet who could turn the tide of public sentiment away from the “other guys” in the AFC Championship game and back to the heavily favored, highly hated New England Patriots.

If you haven’t heard of Rivers, it’s really not your fault. Unless you’re an NFL fanatic or just a fan of the San Diego Chargers, there’s really no reason why he would have made a splash you’d notice. But for football junkies like yours truly, something very odd has been transpiring for the previously unheard of Southern California signal-caller.

It started in a division rivalry game a few weeks ago against the Denver Broncos, when the most unlikable persona in the NFL emerged — as Rivers left the field in a game the Chargers went on to win soundly over the Broncos, he taunted Denver quarterback Jay Cutler for no apparent reason. Worse still, in our brave new world of YouTube and sports bloggers, he did it in plain view of the cameras. Honestly, it was pretty clear that Rivers just didn’t care whether he was seen or not.

The follow-up act came Sunday in Indianapolis, when Rivers, who had played a great game, injured his knee on a thoroughly unorthodox throw for a touchdown against the Colts, in a game which the Chargers would go on to win, 28-24. At the time Rivers left, the Chargers appeared to be in control, having just taken a 21-17 lead heading into the fourth quarter. In short, things were looking up.

Which is why it’s so strange that Rivers took the opportunity, moments after perhaps his most important pass as a touchdown turned into such a stirring success, to taunt the Indianapolis crowd on his way to the locker room — another moment that he had to know every television camera in the building was sure to catch and every sports fan in America was sure to see on his or her nightly local news or ESPN.

Minor incidents? In the grand scheme of things, of course they are. We’re not talking about Michael Vick and a newly discovered canine massacre or Pacman Jones and another bad weather forecast in a strip club. It’s only words and general bad sportsmanship at stake. The problem is that this is a cardinal sin in the eyes of the American public — especially when it comes as these episodes have.

You see, the most disturbing aspect of Rivers’ incredibly bad attitude in recent competitions isn’t merely that he decided to make an ass of himself on national television — it’s that he did it while his own personal fortunes and those of his team were on the upswing.

America — sad as it is to say — is used to a bad loser. When LaDainian Tomlinson mouthed off to the press following the Patriots’ divisional round playoff win over the Chargers last year, it was OK.

He was a true warrior, said the national pundits, who simply lost control of his emotions following a very tough loss. That was understandable. Legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi himself was of the opinion that he never wanted to coach a good loser because losing shouldn’t be easy. We expect the players who give their all on Sundays to be sometimes less than gracious after losses because we expect them to have difficulty coping with failure in a game that’s all about wins and losses.

But Rivers? The problem here is that the Hyde to his Jekyll emerged when things were looking up. As the Chargers have gone an amazing 8-0 in recent weeks after an uninspiring 5-5 start to their season, Rivers went from an unassuming and largely unknown quarterback to a talented but reviled figure. As Tony Kornheiser said on Monday’s “Pardon the Interruption” on ESPN, Rivers has begun playing like legendary Chargers quarterback Dan Fouts at the same time he’s started acting like Ryan Leaf.

And it’s this very puzzling turn of events that, strangely, leaves me unable to cheer for the Chargers this weekend, which is why I say that Phil Rivers truly has done the impossible. Because while I may not be able to root for the Pats in the AFC Championship game this weekend, I certainly can’t root against them — not if that means a Rivers victory. And I’m guessing I’m not alone.

So on Sunday, when you’re watching the Patriots take down the Chargers, as Philip Rivers throws snowballs at a taunting crowd, or gives some ref the finger, or just generally acts the fool, pause for a minute and ponder what you’re seeing — we may not see a vortex of negative public opinion on a football field of Philip Rivers’ capacity for some time.