It’s time for even the most unyielding Tom Brady deniers to admit that he is the best quarterback to ever play the position. Don’t equate physical talent with being the best. Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes and a few others arguably had, and in the cases of Rodgers and Mahomes, possess more sheer athletic ability than Brady. Nevertheless, the totality of his brilliance is unparalleled.
Maybe someday the young lion Mahomes may surpass Brady’s quantifiable eminence. At 25 years old, he already will be starting in his second Super Bowl when the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs take on the NFC champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday (6:30 p.m.). Mahomes was the game’s MVP last year, leading the Chiefs to a 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
Yet it is a long and arduous road for the fourth-year pro, as well as all other quarterbacks coming up behind Brady. The 43-year-old wonder will be under center in Super Bowl LV (55) for the 10th time in the NFL’s signature event, which will be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The Buccaneers are the first team in league history to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium.
Brady’s Super Bowl record is 6-3, having played the previous nine with the New England Patriots. After he signed with the Buccaneers last March, leaving the Patriots following 20 seasons with the franchise, a split that was more of the Patriots’ doing than Brady’s, a slew of critics opined that his career was essentially over.
Many viewed Brady’s success as a product of Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, widely considered one of the top five coaches in NFL history. Brady resoundingly dismissed that notion, significantly helping to turn around a team that was 7-9 last season and 5-11 in 2018.
The Buccaneers were 11-5 in the regular season then won three straight playoff games on the road to get to the Super Bowl. Bucs general manager Jason Licht and head coach Bruce Arians are the architects of the team’s rebuild, but Brady is the chief engineer.
“I think the great quarterbacks all have…the ability to will themselves on other people. To make sure that everybody has bought into the cause—and the cause is a ring. Putting a championship in your trophy case,” said Arians in a video conference with the media on Tuesday.
“So, Tom brings that attitude every single day and it permeates throughout the entire locker room…I thought that was the missing piece.”
In Brady it will be the holder of the proverbial Greatest of All Time title against the man most likely to challenge the crown over the next decade-plus in Mahomes. The symmetry and irony of the matchup is profound. Brady and Mahomes are 2-2 in games their teams have met, the most recent being a gripping 27-24 Chiefs win Nov. 29 in Week 12.
“To go up against Tom, all the success he’s had, it’s going to be a special moment,” Mahomes said in a recent interview on 610 Kansas City Sports Radio’s “The Drive” one day after knocking off the Buffalo Bills 38-24 in the AFC championship Game. “I’m excited for the opportunity to go up against the GOAT.”
In all likelihood Sunday will be the only time the consensus greatest and the heir apparent meet up in the Super Bowl. All the more reason to acknowledge and appreciate the elder’s stature.
The pick: Kansas City 30, Tampa Bay 24.