I'm sure even Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison had their off days.

In developing the theory of relativity, Einstein, might have done a little miscalculating along the way or thought about calling it that "motion thingy."

Edison and the light bulb? You try discovering that in the dark.

So it would be understandable if New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick could suffer from a lack of clarity. But what he tried to attempt Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts was downright lunacy.

Leading 34-21 with four minutes left in the game, the Colts' Peyton Manning engineered a scoring drive that trimmed the deficit to six points.

Facing a fourth-and-2 at the New England 28 with 2:08 remaining, Belichick decided to gamble that his team could pick up the two yards for the first down, then run out the clock.

If they couldn't pick up another first down, the Pats most likely would have punted the ball with about 30 seconds to go, surely not enough time for Manning to drive the Colts to a possible winning score.

My first thought was Belichick wanted to draw the Colts offside and pick up the first down. But, no, they decided to throw a quick pass to running back Kevin Faulk.

The pass worked, but Faulk briefly bobbled the ball. When he finally secured the it, Faulk was driven back inside the 30-yard line and the ball went to Indy on downs.

The Colts were playing at home, the crowd was pumped and Manning had nearly two minutes to move the ball 30 yards.

There were those who believed Belichick didn't have enough confidence in his defense to give Manning that much time. By the same token, he also had to believe his offense could get two yards.

Whatever the reason, the Colts moved in for the kill. They milked the clock to under 20 seconds before Manning found Reggie Wayne on a quick slant for the game-winning score. They gave New England no time to do anything. As quickly as the Patriots were in control, it all unraveled.

Belichick has been labeled a genius, especially after winning three Super Bowls in a four-year span (2001, 2003-04) and posting a near perfect season (a last-minute Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants during the 2007 season).

There's a certain aloofness to Belichick and definitely a level of smugness that has only added to his legend. But Belichick usually isn't associated with second-guessing.

Always a tactician on field position and playing the percentages, Belichick allowed ego to become too much of the game plan.

In this case, conventional wisdom says punt the ball and let Manning earn it. I could understand if it was near midfield or maybe a fourth-and-2 inches, but a loss now has New England (6-3) three games back of the Colts (9-0) for overall playoff seedings. A game in New England would be more beneficial for the Pats than in Indy.

Maybe sometimes a genius can overthink and overanalyze. Or just make really bad decisions.

Sam Tallarico is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.