Pats loss devastates fans but keeps peace

With 30 seconds left, the doors to bars around Fenway Park last night couldn't contain the screaming.

Then came Tom Brady's season-ending interception -- and fans' universal deflation. Hundreds of Patriots fans flooded into the streets.

Waiting for them were beefy special operations officers -- some on foot, others on horseback -- occupying the area like a small army.

The gloom could be heard in the silence, punctured only by scattered epithets.

Anna Majszyk's head hung low as she walked out of Game On off Lansdowne Street.

"My boyfriend's in tears," said Majszyk, 23, of Newton. "It's really disappointing. I'm still in shock."

The sudden demise of the Patriots was good news for police, who reported no game-related arrests shortly before midnight in a city that has been rocked in recent years by celebrations following sports contests. Several people have died in the chaos; and city officials said they weren't taking any chances after the past mayhem.

In February 2004, after the Patriots won the Super Bowl, fans flipped over cars and lit fires throughout the city, and 21-year-old James Grabowski died when the driver of a sport utility vehicle plowed through a crowded Symphony Road. Later that year, after the Red Sox beat the Yankees to win the American League, fans began rioting, and Emerson College student Victoria Snelgrove died when police fired pepper pellets into a crowd.

Last night, while the Patriots played the Indianapolis Colts for the American Football Conference championship, police kept watch over liquor stores, parties, and bars throughout the city.

Amherst police, who put down student-involved riots in the past, reported no major activity because many students were on break.

At Our House East near Northeastern University on Gainsborough Street, about 50 fans watched the game, some donning Patriots gear. The cheers and boos shifted as often as the score.

"I thought we had it in the bag," said Darren Spector, a Northeastern student at the bar.

Not everyone was sad.

"I made a bet with one of my pals against the Patriots," said Kasia Wilk, a bartender at Our House.

At Boston Beer Works on Brookline Avenue, the crowd filed out as the Colts ran out the clock, blocking the Patriots from a rematch with the Bears in the Super Bowl, a game they lost in 1985.

Chad Borer, 30, of Charlestown passed a line of uniformed police officers and said: "I'm really disappointed. I knew it would be a nail-biter. At least [former Patriot, now Colts place kicker Adam] Vinatieri didn't win it for them."

As the crowds thinned out and police began outnumbering patrons of area bars, Lindsey Clarke turned philosophical.

"This is life," said Clarke, 25, of the South End. "You go on -- and then you win next year."

Globe correspondents Michael Naughton and Sean Greene contributed to this report.