A little over a year ago, I distinctly remember sitting in my girlfriend's living room in utter disbelief as Green Bay Packers cornerback Kevin King was called for defensive pass interference on Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Tyler Johnson with two minutes to go in the 4th quarter of the 2021 NFC Championship game, which all but ended the game.
Tom Brady and the Buccaneers were once again going to the Super Bowl, in which Brady was vying for his seventh victory in ten tries. Year after year, "experts" predicted that Brady's downfall was coming soon. If he had one bad game, the press was all over him. On Sept 29, 2014 as a member of the New England Patriots, the 36 year old Brady had one of the worst games of his career, in which he threw for 150 yards and two interceptions against the Kansas City Chiefs, as one of them was returned for a touchdown. Brady was benched, the Patriots lost, and chaos ensued.
After the loss, one analyst from Bleacher Report named Ty Schalter wrote, "with 37-year-old quarterback Tom Brady playing the worst football of his life, behind an offensive line that can't protect him, across from a defense that's the antithesis of Patriots football, the awful conclusion is inescapable: It's over." Let's just fast forward eight years. Schalter could not have been more wrong.
Since that blowout on that dreaded September night in 2014, Brady sits pretty with four Super Bowl wins, three of which were with the Patriots. As if Brady wasn't having enough fun dismantling the various claims of him getting too old to play football, he left the Patriots and the AFC and joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC in 2020. After a 38-3 blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints, which dropped the Bucs to a 6-3 record, Brady continued to be subject to criticism. Once again, Brady was criticized for being washed up, as droves of people on Twitter rejoiced in Brady's failures.
Yet, similarly to what Brady had done in the past with the Patriots, the Brady-led Buccaneers ended up winning the NFC. With the Buccaneers facing the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 Super Bowl, the narrative was about Tom Brady vs. the young superstar, Patrick Mahomes. Most sane football fans picked the Chiefs to win. Yeah, it's Tom Brady, but the Buccaneers hadn't been dominant throughout the season, and many were surprised when they beat the top seeded Packers in Green Bay to make it to the Final Game of the season.
The Chiefs on the other hand, had been the preseason favorites to win the Super Bowl all year long, as they were intent on defending their title from 2020. Yet that narrative exploded, when Mahomes was stifled by the Buccaneers' defense as they shut down the Chief's offense while forcing Mahomes to throw for 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Brady suppressed any doubt that had been cast on him for having a decent, but not great season. Tom Brady, once again, unequivocally proved himself as the greatest quarterback to play the game, which pains me to say.
Just recently, on Feb. 1, Tom Brady announced his retirement at the age of 44. Brady threw for 5,316 yards (highest in his career) and 43 touchdowns (second highest in his career). The Buccaneers lost in the Divisional Round of the playoffs this year to the Los Angeles Rams, but no one could write that Brady should retire due to his poor quality of play.
Perhaps, that is my favorite aspect of Tom Brady's retirement (other than the fact that he can't destroy my hopes as a Packers fan anymore). In the years that Brady had some of the worst nights of his career, and Twitter fingers laughed at him and called for him to retire, Brady did exactly the opposite and decided to win instead. Now, in a year in which Brady is a contender for League MVP, Brady controlled his narrative, and he went out on his own terms, which is the greatest and most celebrated quarterback to ever play the game.