FOXBORO — It’s tempting. But don’t do it.

Don’t peek.

To those forks in the road where one path leads closer to the Promised Land and every other to the land of broken promises, hopes and football dreams.

We’re not there yet.

We’re here.

The end of a regular-season ride no one — and I mean no one — believed the Patriots could take us.

To 14-3, straight past relevance and back toward excellence. To a place that feels familiar, yet given everything they have been through, and everything they’ve put themselves through, more like fan fiction.

How was this possible?

Don’t ask the Patriots, who aren’t bothering to reflect beyond a quick recounting of their season as if they’re skimming their own Wikipedia page.

It’s on to the playoffs, and, sometime, somewhere, the end of the road.

“It’s a new season now, so we might not even enjoy this one tonight,” Christian Gonzalez said. “Just get right on to it and on to next week.”

The Pats will kick off next weekend in the Wild Card round. They might lose to the Chargers. Even if they win, reaching the Super Bowl will require winning a coin-flip game, choosing the right path, two more times.

Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. The odds aren’t great. But nothing that happens next can touch what’s now past.

Mike Vrabel just packed two years of a franchise rebuild into one. The Patriots hit on virtually every free-agent signing and plucked multiple starters from the draft. The coaching staff coalesced immediately. His players believe, and his culture is strong.

“I don’t ever want to have to play for anybody else,” rookie Will Campbell said.

None of this was supposed to be so easy. And yet it was, the power of a great head coach and quarterback joining forces and carrying a franchise once more.

Drake Maye just packed three seasons of quarterback development into Year 2. This wasn’t a Year 2 leap. It was a launch.

Maye might hoist the MVP trophy next month; a 23-year-old just a couple of seasons removed from leading a mediocre team in the ACC. The company he should join is rare, a club not even the greats could join.

Peyton Manning won his first MVP in Year 6. Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers waited until Year 7. Joe Montana was Year 11. Drew Brees never won.

One of the few comparisons for Maye at this stage of his career is Patrick Mahomes, who won the MVP in his second season, a Super Bowl in his third and two more after that. But Mahomes is learning now, like all the greats do, success is not linear.

New England Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson stiff-arms Miami Dolphins cornerback Jack Jones on his way to a touchdown during the third quarter. The Patriots won to finish the regular season 14-3. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)

Where is he right now?

Mourning a lost season in Kansas City, where his dynasty has, at best, just hit pause, or at worst hit a wall. The fact Mahomes got hurt is immaterial to the fact the Chiefs were bound to fall. And there is no guarantee they will climb back to the top.

What do you think Mahomes would tell Maye right now? Surely, some form of savor this.

To understand where you are, you must know the steps that led you there. Before his team manhandled Miami, Vrabel gave voice to this during a pregame radio interview when answering if the Patriots might rest starters in order to preserve their health for the postseason. He dismissed the idea.

“We’re talking about a football team that won eight games in two years,” Vrabel said.

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That answer came courtesy of the same coach who defined success as winning the division back in the spring. Remember how far-off, how distantly ridiculous that sounded? If Vrabel could just fix the division in his locker room and cultivate a culture over a .500 season, that would be enough for Year 1.

Vrabel checked those boxes months ago. Before then, his Patriots planted seeds of hope in Week 2, back in that that unforgiving, sun-baked South Florida soil where Bill Belichick and Tom Brady slipped almost every year. In their rematch with Miami on Sunday, the Patriots instead planted their flag.

The last time the Dolphins visited New England for a regular-season finale, then head coach Brian Flores, a disciple of the dynasty, struck the Patriots down as a 17-point underdog. Wounded, the Pats keeled over in the Wild Card round at Vrabel’s feet; a home loss to the Titans that history remembers instead as Tom Brady’s last day with the franchise.

It’s been six years since postseason football visited Foxboro, but the message is the same.

We’re ready.

Let’s go.