Just when you think you've seen it all, Chelsea Football Club goes and delivers a spectacle almost more remarkable than anything which has come before.
The very public grief and anger, at the loss of Jose Mourinho, resulted in truly unprecedented scenes – where nearly an entire stadium got on the back of its own players, for their perceived culpability in delivering the fatal blow to The Special One.
While we had seen uproar before, in the form of the ear-splitting negativity which greeted the introduction of interim boss Rafael Benitez back in 2012, this was something new.
For the most part, supporters stuck to the unspoken rule of supporting the side in play.
But pauses in that – be it for the 'celebration' of the three goals by singing The Deposed One's name, or the vocal disapproval particularly directed to Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa before, after, and when being substituted – saw a release of emotion that cannot have been missed at any level of the club.
In pictures: Chelsea's win over Sunderland
With those very players now needing to deliver something missing from their performances all season, one hopes this protest can be set aside, so that the real business of climbing the league table can be allowed to happen under the latest interim regime.
Away from the spectacle in the stands, there was actually a football match going on here – though it would have been easy for anyone attending Stamford Bridge on Saturday to miss that.
While those who had paid to participate in events celebrated their right to freedom of speech, there was a different form of freedom being pursued on-pitch.
Chelsea looked as if a weight had been lifted from their collective being, and delivered a performance that was superior to almost anything we had seen from them this campaign.
The ball was passed with both accuracy and direction, and players seemed all of a sudden to have an instinctive understanding of how to get into, and behind an opposition.
Ten outfield players attacked and defended as a team – in a way we had seldom seen of late. They mobilised as a unit, and covered for each other.
Positionally, there were two players who seemed to be reborn.
Firstly, Diego Costa: who put in a shift in a curious new role barely seen from him this calendar year – a sort of 'centre/forward' position. Who knows, it may catch on.
Then there was Oscar, curiously looked over by the boo boys despite being at the very top of the list of Mourinho's under-performers, in a far deeper controlling role.
The Brazilian was a revelation, having an input in almost every part of the pitch, and revealing himself as a conduit through which all of Chelsea's desires were made real.
In every position, but one, we saw marked improvement from a group who clearly had their own statement to make about the week's events.
That one exception was the lone man whose reception was the polar opposite of his colleagues: the current fans' darling, Willian. He continued to deliver the level of on-pitch commitment and creativity that has seen him all but named the Blues player of the season before it is even half-way through.
Were Chelsea right to sack Jose Mourinho?
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For whatever reason, the change at the top worked, prompting the question from fans: “Where were you when we were s***?”
But context does need to be applied here: and, in Sunderland, Chelsea faced one of their most abject and clueless opponents of the season so far.
Only Norwich, of the Premier League sides to have visited Stamford Bridge, delivered less.
While the freedom of movement was an asset against an opponent with little shape or discipline, that may be very different against sides defending positions higher up the table.
Though Chelsea will presumably have had time to reorganise and regroup under Guus Hiddink's direction by the time those challenges arise.
At the end of a truly remarkable day, in which fans delivered the right balance of support and criticism, and stand-in boss Steve Holland gave a press conference of rare intelligence and dignity, it was time to move on.
Another page was written in the story of the Blues. Whoever knows what the rest of this chapter will have to say.
