On paper, at least, the Patriots would appear to be the strongest of the four remaining teams in the Super Bowl hunt. They may have their imperfections, but since there are no perfect teams in the NFL ? no teams as balanced as those 2003 and 2004 squads ? the flaws are not insurmountable.This is why I’ll go out on a limb and make the following prediction: The Patriots are going to win their fourth Super Bowl of the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era.OK. I’m not going out on a limb here. I’d have to say that the Patriots are the favorite among the four remaining teams.But we New Englanders have a long history of watching teams that are supposed to succeed fall flat on their faces ? such as last year’s Red Sox.And we have an equally long history of watching teams that are supposed to end up doing little come out of nowhere and win ? such as last year’s Boston Bruins.So it’s not with extreme confidence that I take the Pats to win their fourth Super Bowl. It’s with guarded optimism at best.But here’s why I think they’re going to win: Tom Brady is the best quarterback still standing, with Eli Manning a distant second. Now, I give Eli his props. He’s come a long way. He looked like a real clutch, playoff quarterback Sunday as the Giants went into Green Bay and laid out the Packers. I fully expect to see the Patriots and Giants in a rematch of that 2008 game in which New York spoiled their perfect season.Brady and the Patriots aren’t going to put up 45 points against the Baltimore Ravens Sunday. But if they put up a more conventional (for them) 30, let’s say, the Ravens don’t have the offense to respond. And since the Ravens don’t have a top-tier quarterback in Joe Flacco, they can concentrate on stopping the run and let Flacco try to beat them. I’m betting he won’t.The 49ers have the best defense of any of the four teams left, but here’s the thing: They’re probably playing the team with the next best defense (Giants), whose offense has sprung to life. That’s why the Giants will win out there.What a great storyline a Patriots-Giants Super Bowl will be. Wouldn’t that just be awesome? If you thought Tom Brady looked evil on the field preparing to face the guy who stole all his pre-game ink last week, how do you think he’s going to look when he goes out to play the team that stole history out from under him?If we’ve learned anything this year, it’s that a motivated Brady, and a motivated Patriots team, is tough to beat. We’ve heard many times that this is a supremely coachable bunch of guys, and that, collectively, they grasp the idea of “team” a lot better than some of the other recent editions.They’ll have plenty to be focused about ? both Sunday and two weeks later in Indianapolis.People keep talking about how this might be the last hurrah for Ray Lewis and Ed Reed of the Ravens. Could be. But it could also be Brady’s last hurrah too. At some point, that team will have to be rebuilt. There are too many patchwork combinations being held together by bailing wire and sealing wax. This might be Brady’s last shot at putting himself truly in the pantheon of NFL quarterbacks.Something tells me he is not going to mess this up.Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].