The final seconds ticked away on an unforgettable Super Bowl, then time stopped … but Bill Belichick just kept on going.

The head coach of the New England Patriots couldn’t bear that one last tick of the University of Phoenix Stadium clock. It would appear not even the heat of the Arizona sun was as unbearable as the collective gaze of the millions who watched as Belichick and his perfection-seekers fell one win short of the goal they seemed to believe they were entitled to.

To be sure, the Patriots won some fans over during their headline-making run, but previously-indifferent fans were likely more swayed away from cheering for the juggernaut. No one cheers for the house in Black Jack and no one applauds when Bill Gates earns another billion. So if everyone truly loves the underdog, anyone not associated with the Pats surely was cheering for a moment like the one Sunday night when Belichick put his tail between his legs and hustled off the field even before the game was officially declared over.

Belichick, lauded regularly for his ability to make in-game zigs to other coaches’ zags and celebrated as one of the geniuses of the game, was undoubtedly exposed during the game — even if it was just a smudge — but he was doubly outted in those final seconds.

While the media and his minions gladly treated his tight-lipped curmudgeon act with revelry — as if it was the lovable part of the evil genius disguise — the truth of the matter is that Belichick is not a likable protagonist and Sunday he showed it in his most classless way.

He sought out Giants coach Tom Coughlin to shake his hand and, of course, everyone followed, making the playing field a sudden mass of humanity that took the spotlight from what should have been an all-about-the-Giants moment and turned it back on himself, one last selfish act in a season that was full of Belichick egotism.

Belichick coming on to the field will be forgotten — probably already has by many — and In the grand scheme of things that gesture amounts to very little considering the greatness of the game that was played. But leave it to Belichick to upstage the biggest sporting circus of the year and, somehow, get away with it without any reproof.

Afterwards, he was his typical self in the media — talking little, saying nothing — and giving all the answers no one wants to hear.

An abstract response like “they made more plays than we did” followed by an equally recondite and uninformative “we knew it was going to be a battle” is not what viewers and fans signed up for. It’s not asking much that, even after a heart-wrenching loss, a coach stands forward like a man and does what is part of the job description and deals with his questioners. Belichick, however, doesn’t fit that description.

On Sunday night, Bill Belichick showed himself as the classless knave. Ironic that, after 19 weeks of seeing him in front of us, it only took him one second to do it.