Super Bowl LV - Why emulating Tom Brady will be nigh on impossible, even for Patrick Mahomes

Brady leads the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a mouth-watering Super Bowl LV against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, led by Patrick Mahomes.

Mahomes is the quarterback many expect to step up when Brady eventually retires, and the prodigy is showing no signs of cowering under the weight of that responsibility. This is just his third full season and yet he has already won a league MVP title (most valuable player), a Super Bowl and been named that game’s MVP.

But emulating Brady will be nigh on impossible. The numbers are staggering. This will be Brady’s 10th Super Bowl, twice as many as any other player.

If the Bucs win it will be Brady’s seventh title, more than any team has ever won.

Just two of the last seven Super Bowls have taken place without Brady, and the man is 43, defying the advancing years that accelerated the declines of peers like Drew Brees and Philip Rivers.

A Hall of Fame career is the defining accolade for an NFL player. Brady’s career could be divided into three Hall of Fame entries.

Twenty years came with the New England Patriots under Bill Belichick. Together, they won more titles than any head coach-quarterback duo.

But this is arguably Brady’s greatest achievement. He left his comfort zone to start again but did so in a pandemic which cut training camp time and wiped out pre-season. The Bucs took time to gel but with weapons around him in a high-calibre receiving corps, and a strong defence, Brady led them to seven straight wins, including three on the road in the play-offs and a place in a home Super Bowl in Tampa.

The Chiefs are favoured due to the high-speed nature of their Mahomes-led offence. Brady may be forced to chase the game, increasing the risk of throwing interceptions. His win-at-all costs mentality could come at the cost of his immediate reputation. But he will not care, and nor should anyone else.

The greatest career in the history of the sport is untouchable.

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