I have been a fan of Boston sports since about the age of six. That being said, I don’t think I have ever witnessed an all-around worse week than this one. The Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins are all hurting for many different reasons, and they seem to be in much more complicated situations than the usual trouble they find themselves in.

The Red Sox are the least of everyone’s worries right now, and they are the only team actually in season right now. They just finished up a pretty good interleague series against the Rockies, winning 11-4 on Tuesday, and a much closer 5-3 on Wednesday. Before that however, they had lost four of their last five games, including a loss to the Rays after a doubleheader sweep the day before, and three losses to the Detroit Tigers. The same Tigers that just lost 14-8 to the Angels. Before that, they lost three of four to the Orioles, including a shutout. The Sox have a total of two solid starting pitchers, so the team that started off great and rocketed to the top of the AL East standings after a small rough patch in May is slowly losing its lead as the Yankees and Orioles creep up to 3.5 games behind. If Jon Lester and others can’t step it up and Clay Buchholz doesn’t get better fast, Boston will most definitely slip out of first and potentially into third. The Sox also have far fewer players leading in All-Star Game votes than the last few seasons. That may not seem like a big deal, but since Boston is always over-represented in the game, it just makes it all the more obvious there are little issues the Sox need to work out in order to stay on top.

The Bruins just lost the Stanley Cup in one of the craziest and most stressful Game Sixes I’ve ever seen. After taking the lead in the third period with six minutes left, it seemed like there would definitely be a Game 7. Then with a minute and 16 seconds left in regulation, the Blackhawks scored two goals in 17 seconds to take the lead and eventually win the Stanel Cup. Now, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli has told defenseman Andrew Ference and forwards Jaromir Jagr and Jay Pandolfo that the team has no intentions of re-signing them. Not to mention that news was just released that not only did Patrice Bergeron play through game six with a cracked rib, torn rib cartilage, and a separated shoulder, but he developed a punctured lung at some point during or after the game. Though he has just been released from the hospital, he will no doubt have to be careful in the months to come, and will not be high up on Boston’s radar with the draft coming up and having to complete a team that couldn’t quite cut it after one of the most disappointing losses any Boston team has faced in a while.

The Celtics have been in the far-too-long and drawn out process of sending head coach Doc Rivers to the Los Angeles Clippers, and with one of the oldest teams in the NBA, they must start to rebuild without him. There have also been talks of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett leaving, which seems incredibly probable. So much so that most Celtics fans have accepted that we may not see them in green and white next season, and have begun to move on. Myself included. Rondo has also admitted he is not an easy player to coach, and after the news of him and Doc almost fighting in the locker room, seeing how he gets along with a new coach will be interesting to say the least.

Last but most certainly not least, there are the New England Patriots. After the Tebow news seemingly died down when Belichick refused to talk about him anymore, another story popped up for the Patriots: Aaron Hernandez. First, rumors circulated that he was somehow involved in an investigation of the homicide of one of his friends, Odin Lloyd. Then, news broke that a man in Florida was bringing up charges against Hernandez for allegedly shooting him in the face on the way home from a nightclub in Florida. Then, Wednesday morning, Hernandez was arrested at his home in North Attleborough, Massachusetts and charged with the murder of Lloyd, along with five firearm charges. Only a couple hours later, the Patriots officially released Hernandez, and the NFL backed them up. He was arraigned later that afternoon and plead not guilty. Thursday morning, it was reported that Hernandez is also suspected in connection with a double homicide from 2012.

As someone who used to look up to Hernandez and everything he did for the Patriots' trademark two tight-end offense, it is hard to hear about everything that has happened with him these past few days. We will see how it all plays out in the coming weeks and months, but it is worth saying that there is no point in speculating what may or may not happen to him in terms of his possible sentence or his future in the NFL. There is also no point in comparing him to any other athletes in similar situations. If Hernandez really did do all of this, he is in a league all his own.

The Patriots did what had to be done, and I fully understand and support them in that decision. The only question left for me is where to go from here. With essentially all of their primary receivers traded or cut, save Rob Gronkowski, there are some big holes on offense. After Gronk’s fifth surgery since November, he is questionable at the very best for the beginning of this season. If he can come back from surgery and perform like he has been the past couple of years, the Patriots can potentially look to do some damage this upcoming season. Nothing with Gronkowski is ever a guarantee though, and knowing the Patriots’ cautious ways and with offense always being their strong suit, Belichick has some work to do to keep New England competitive this year.

There are positives in every situation, though. The Sox may have a few struggles to deal with, but they are still winning fairly consistently and still sit atop the most competitive and successful division in baseball right now. The Bruins have Bergeron and Rask to look forward to next season. The Celtics are jumping into team-rebuild mode and even without Doc, much progress will certainly be made and new talent will be added this offseason, so next season should be exciting no matter the outcome of other trades. The Patriots have a long way to go with seemingly no experienced receivers, but if there is any coach who can handle this many setbacks, I have faith that Belichick is the man for the job.

This may have been a terrible week for Boston fans, but it seems like the worst is behind us. Even though “Title Town” seems to be yet another title that is slipping ever so quickly through Boston’s fingers, now is the time to move forward as there is really nowhere to go from here but up.

Reach Staff Writer Jordan Gary here, or on Twitter.