The Chiefs may have been favourites for Sunday’s Super Bowl, but with Tom Brady calling the shots for the Bucs, there was always a chance.
Before Sunday night, Tampa Bay had made one previous trip to Super Bowl territory, emerging victorious in 2010. Their last three seasons have been losing seasons.
Kansas City, on the other hand, were the reigning, defending champions. Patrick Mahomes, last year’s MVP, is the pretender to the throne with his cards marked for greatness.
Brady, chasing an unmatched seventh Super Bowl ring, proved once more why he’ll be regarded in history as the greatest quarterback of all time, and he had a long-time teammate help him along the way.
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Why was it banned? #TheGOATin5G 🐐 pic.twitter.com/Vh9eBvVmXU
— T-Mobile (@TMobile) February 5, 2021
As one sports commentator put it (and I may be paraphrasing), but Brady’s move to the Buccaneers from the New England Patriots was the equivalent of Cristiano Ronaldo moving to Aston Villa, and winning the league there. It probably shouldn’t have happened, but it happened in style.
Early predictions had the Chiefs by five or six, maybe the Bucs by four (for the eternal optimists) but in the end, two TDs from Rob Gronkowski, who came out of retirement to join fellow former Patriot Brady in Florida this season, helped the Buccaneers to an emphatic 31-9 victory on home soil as the Chiefs crumbled.
¯_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/E7TpmU6rOw
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) February 8, 2021
The win also helped 43-year-old Brady to a record-breaking fifth Super Bowl MVP crown, a feat not likely to be repeated any time soon.
While the Chiefs were first to put points on the board, the Buccaneers controlled the game from the off, taking a 21-6 lead into the halftime show with Gronkowski’s pair of TDs and third from Antonio Brown. Leonard Fournette added a fourth early in the third quarter as Mahomes and the Chiefs offence simply couldn’t get going.
With another Vince Lombardi trophy under his arm, Brady outlined post-game that he’s no intention on retiring despite the win, with Gronkowski set to return to the fold for 2021/22 alongside Bucs head coach Bruce Arians – now the oldest coach at 68 to win a Super Bowl title.
In March 2020, Brady put pen to paper on a $50m fully-guaranteed contract with the Bucs having spent 20 years with the New England Patriots, something he intends to continue delivering on. He finished Sunday going 21/29 attempts for 201 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions.
