Wetzel: Let football be football. And let it snow.

Snowy weather played a role in the AFC Championship Game, grinding both sides -- at least their offenses -- to a near stop. The teams combined for just 48 fourth-quarter yards and zero points as New England held on for a 10-7 victory over Denver. The Patriots play Seattle in Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8.

For some NFL fans, drunk on a steady diet of offensive pyrotechnics and late-game shootouts, this felt anti-climactic.

As such, there was plenty of complaining on social media about how the elements shouldn't impact games of such magnitude and league championship weekend should be moved to neutral sites with domed stadiums, and blah, blah, blah ...

At the risk of giving prominence to said complaining while acknowledging that there is always someone complaining about something on social media ...

Please, no.

Please, can we have football still be football and not tinkered with until it is some algorithm-based product designed to maximize flashiness for the attention-deficit crowd?

Can football, for all its brute violence, remain a thinking person's game, where strategy and decisions and variables and a million little things still matter, including snow or wind or rain or sunshine or calm or, who really cares?

All weather is football weather. The elements, or lack thereof, always impact the game.

That's one of the beauties of the sport. Barring life-threatening conditions -- lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc. -- the game gets played. The participants deal with it.

The game is meant for whatever conditions are present, not what might be conceptualized as perfect conditions. A clear sky and absence of wind might favor the offense, but that, in turn, disadvantages the defense. Why should one side matter more? Why should passing and catching be protected over the ability to run the ball, or block better, or maintain ball security or manage the clock?

It's all part of the game. It was never designed to fit into some neat package, its dirt and flaws and fluctuations adding spice.

Some of the most memorable and beloved games in NFL history involve inclement weather -- the Ice Bowl, the Fog Bowl in Chicago, Adam Vinatieri kicking a playoff game winner through a Foxborough blizzard. It's a lineage of breath coming through facemasks, celebratory snow angels and the frozen faces of middle linebackers.

One of the determinative moments of this AFC Championship Game came in the second quarter. Denver faced fourth-and-1 at the New England 14. Rather than attempt a high-probability field goal, Broncos coach Sean Payton went for it, only to have Jarret Stidham throw an incompletion.

The looming weather was a factor in the decision. Payton thought his team had momentum and getting 14 points on the board, with the wind and snow coming, might have been enough to win. In hindsight, he should've kicked to get to 10 points. Whatever. The weather forecast was part of the equation.

One of the sport's most endearing and addictive qualities is its game strategy. What works in one contest doesn't always make sense in another. It's also why, late in the game, with a 3-point lead, New England coach Mike Vrabel kept it conservative on offense, essentially daring a backup quarterback (Stidham) to beat them in blowing snow.

On a clear day, facing Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes, he wouldn't have dared.

Maybe this isn't a 13-second scoring drive, or a four-touchdown, back-and-forth outburst that fans love. So what? Both can be entertaining. Both are entertaining.

As sure as not every movie needs to be a superhero blockbuster, not every NFL game needs to be set up for offenses to flourish. A 35-31 game is no better than a 10-7 one. Drake Maye's perfectly executed 7-yard bootleg on third-and-5 to clinch the game for New England can be just as thrilling and meaningful as a Hail Mary.

If you love football, you love it all.

Moving conference championship games out of home stadiums is an idea only a venture capitalist could love. Earning home-field advantage, giving longtime fans the benefit of watching their team and boosting local economies should all take priority.

The Super Bowl has become such a massive affair that playing it in a predetermined, and generally neutral, city makes sense. There would be no way to plan for all the outside business, entertainment, tourism and security.

Besides, the NFL is already trending further and further away from the outdoors. Proposed domes are coming to Kansas City, Cleveland, Washington and maybe even Chicago.

No doubt other owners will want the same, if only for the additional uses of a roofed facility -- conventions, Final Fours, concerts, etc.

Climate control will become more and more of a thing.

So cherish what we still have, while we still have it.

Let football be football. Then let it snow.