Is the Tom Brady legacy coming to an end? On Sunday, Jan. 23, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the Los Angeles Rams 27-30 in the Divisions Playoff round of the 2021 postseason. This loss shocked the Buccaneer fanbase and the rest of the National Football League, as many saw the Bucs going for a repeat Super Bowl victory after winning last year.
The Bucs have been spearheaded for the past two seasons by quarterback Tom Brady who originally played for the New England Patriots for 20 seasons. However, his future in the NFL is uncertain as he has not yet committed to another season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to USA Today. The quarterback addressed his future by saying, “I’ll just take it day by day. And we’ll see.”
Brady also touched on his family responsibilities and how those play into his career. He is married to model Gisele Bundchen with whom he has two children and one son with actress Bridget Moynahan. However, in the past few years, Brady has discussed how he must think more about his health and how it affects his family now that he is older. On his Let’s Go! podcast with Jim Gray, Brady mentioned, “It pains [Gisele] to see me get hit out there. And she deserves what she needs from me as a husband, and my kids deserve what they need from me as a dad.”
Brady’s performance in this last game was a mixed bag, starting off with a 24-point deficit in the third quarter. The team pulled it together through the third and fourth quarters to tie up the score at 27. In the last minute of the game, the Bucs lost when the Rams kicked a 30-yard field goal for the playoff win. The loss was unsurprising as this was Brady’s third match-up and consequential loss to the Rams since he had joined the Bucs in 2020.
Brady was also awarded an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, a first in his 22-year career in the NFL. In the second quarter, he was inappropriately yelling at referee Shawn Hochuli after being hit by Rams player Von Miller. The impact left Brady with a bloody lip and set off his game-day temperament.
In his career, Tom Brady collected six Super Bowl wins with the New England Patriots and started his time with the Bucs off with a 31-9 Super Bowl win last year against the Kansas City Chiefs. This season, the Bucs had 13 wins and four losses in the regular season, followed by a 31-15 win against the Philadelphia Eagles in the playoff Wild Card game. With such an impressive regular-season record topped off by a sizable win against the Eagles, many saw another Super Bowl trophy in the team’s future.
With the Bucs out of the playoffs so early in the postseason, some have questioned Brady’s loyalty to the team. Will viewers get another chance to see Brady play, or is this the end of his 22-year legacy in the NFL?
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