It isn’t often that a winning streak that leads to the Super Bowl is ignited by defeat, but such is the power of the New England Patriots this season.

The Patriots, of course, haven’t lost in over a year, so defeat is not in their lexicon, but that is the point really. The New York Giants began their unlikely march to Super Bowl XLII not by winning but by struggling so mightily, in what many thought was a meaningless season finale against New England, that they left the field the winners in a three-point loss. Or so the story goes.

That is the mythology, and Super Bowl week is all about mythology. Super Bowl finalists are, for two weeks, the Greek gods of our game. With that status comes an often-heady mixture of myth and truth, with emphasis on the former, not the latter.

Giants QB Eli Manning

The reality is that Barber did all he could during his career to get the Giants to where Manning has now led them, but it didn’t happen. To conclude his departure led to their arrival in Glendale, Ariz., is not only myth, it’s nonsense. But you’ll hear much nonsense this week.

Then there is that 38-35 loss to the Patriots on Dec. 29 when, surprisingly to some, both teams played all out, all night, in a game that was meaningless in the standings and in postseason seedings. In other words, many pundits argued, there was nothing to win and everything to lose for both, but especially for the Giants, who would have to go to Tampa the following weekend to begin their playoff chase as a wild-card entrant.

There was much talk of potential injury, and the Giants sustained several, including the temporary loss of C Shaun O’Hara. But they also left the field with dignity and with the strong belief that they had played perhaps the best team ever assembled to nearly a standstill. They had not won, but they had found themselves. Or so the myth goes.

Praise was heaped upon the often-criticized Manning, who threw four touchdown passes and led his team to a 12-point lead in the second half before succumbing to the perfect Patriots. When the Giants then went on to become only the third wild-card team ever to win three straight playoff road games (at Tampa, Dallas and fresh-frozen Green Bay) to get to the Super Bowl, the mythologists went to work. They cited that hard-fought loss to the Patriots as the fuel that turned a 10-6 team that had crawled into the postseason into one capable of derailing New England’s quest to bypass not only the Giants but every team ever assembled.

I’m all for mythology. Who doesn’t like to read of Greek gods? Of Atlas holding up the world or mighty Hercules’ powers? But while the foundation of the NFL might be built on mythology, the outcome of its games seldom is. Might the Giants find a way to block the Patriots’ path to 19-0? Sure. After all, they are a team with a rising young quarterback, a bruising running game, a lanky wide receiver nearly as dangerous as the postseason-challenged Randy Moss and a defense that can get after the quarterback and follows the advice once given by Raiders owner Al Davis that “the quarterback must go down and he must go down hard!”

Only one problem, and it goes back to what actually happened on Dec. 29. For all the talk you will hear and stories you will read about how that three-point loss convinced the Giants of who they were, the fact is, in the end, they were not only losers, they were a team that blew a 12-point second-half lead because, when crunch time came, on came the Patriots. After falling so far behind, New England seemed to finally say, “Huh?’’ — after which they scored on three of their next four possessions to make that lead disappear like steamy breath on a cold winter’s night. Then they recovered an onside kick to preserve the victory. Make a myth out of that.

What that reality tells me is that the New York Giants have had a hell of a season, but it is going to end not with a myth but with a defeat. Maybe there will be a storybook ending, but more likely it will be another story, because you don’t beat the perfect Patriots by missing two field goals before you kick the game-winner in overtime, and you don’t beat them by fumbling twice in critical situations as the Giants did in Green Bay. And you don’t beat them by losing the time-of-possession battle by nearly a quarter (13 minutes, to be more precise) as they did in Dallas.

You beat the Patriots by playing boldly, aggressively, intelligently and nearly perfectly. That’s how you beat the perfect Patriots. The Giants came close on Dec. 29, but they lost. That’s no myth. That’s a reality that very likely will be played out again at University of Phoenix Stadium on Feb. 3.

Longtime Boston Globe football columnist Ron Borges now writes for Pro Football Weekly, ESPN.com, HBO.com and on his own Web site, ronborges.com.

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