Along with most of the rugby world on Sunday, I watched as the All Blacks were outmuscled, outhustled and out-coached by a hungrier Irish side at Soldier Field.
And, like the rest of the rugby world, I was stunned by the ferocity of the Irish pack and the quality with which they executed the masterful game-plan, evidently prepared down to every detail for some time by Joe Schmidt.
Three weeks ago, I wrote a piece – that was unexpectedly picked up by the Irish media – about the All Blacks having nothing to gain by sending a full-strength side to the Northern Hemisphere.
Meanwhile, I exclaimed that an All Blacks D team would "wipe the floor with the Northern raiders" which included Ireland, France and Italy.
How wrong I was.
As a rugby journalist but first and foremost a lover and a long-time purveyor of rugby, statistics, logistics and previous performances were all taken into account when my predictions were given.
Quite simply, a 74% loss rate in all Tests played against the current top four rugby Nations in the world on foreign soil gave no indication that Ireland would have the goods to overturn the All Blacks, a team they had never beaten.
When you also consider that Ireland hadn't played a Test match since June and that the All Blacks had an average score of 44-12 from its last 18 Tests, including an unbeaten 12 months, the likeliness that Ireland was to register such a stunning performance and complete such a shellacking was next to nil.
All this was underlined by Ireland's poor performances at the 2015 Rugby World Cup and the 2016 Six Nations.
That said, regardless of whether my predictions were based on statistics, Ireland were fantastic on Sunday. And when you're wrong, you're wrong.
Teams in any sport, at any level, earn respect. It is never given.
On the weekend, Ireland earned that respect.