When was the last time Tom Brady did not play the Super Bowl?
At this point in his NFL career, Tom Brady might be more of a Super Bowl staple than the commercials and boxes.
Brady is on pace to partake in his record 11th Super Bowl after his Tampa Bay Buccaneers pummeled the Philadelphia Eagles by a 31-15 scoreline on Sunday afternoon. The arguable "G.O.A.T." threw for 271 yards and two touchdowns. He now awaits the winner of Monday's Wild Card finale between the Arizona Cardinals and the Los Angeles Rams (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC) for a showdown in the Divisional Round set to be staged next Sunday late afternoon (3 p.m. ET, NBC).
Two further wins separate Tampa from their return to football nirvana, which had us at SK thinking about the last Brady-free Super Bowl...
The last Tom Brady-less Super Bowl isn't too far behind us
The time we've spent amidst the ongoing health crisis — as well as Brady's greatness — perhaps makes it seem like it's been a long while since the Big Game was denied of the No. 12's heroics. But surprisingly, this February will mark only the two-year anniversary of a Super Bowl without Brady, provided the Buccaneers don't wind up making their own way back, that is.
Super Bowl LIV was the last Brady-less Super Bowl. The quarterback was still lingering in the AFC when his streak of Super Bowl appearances was snapped at three consecutive seasons. He was still repping the New England Patriots at the time, and their championship fortunes were dashed nearly a month prior thanks to a 20-13 upset loss at the hands of the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Wild Card round.
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That defeat wound up becoming the Michigan alum's final game in a Patriots uniform, as he would sign with the Buccaneers in the ensuing offseason. Championship normalcy resumed the following season as another MVP campaign awaited.
In place of the Patriots rose a new contender, a Midwestern power known as the Kansas City Chiefs. Armed with the power of Patrick Mahomes (in the midst of his second season as the Chiefs' full-time starter), Kansas City won 12 games before topping Houston and Tennessee in the playoffs. The Chiefs had locked up the top seed in the AFC with a 23-16 win over the Patriots in December, part of a six-game winning streak to end the regular season.
The Chiefs' run to the Super Bowl 54, staged in Miami, was defined by comebacks (erasing a 24-0 deficit against the Texans and two ten-point Titans leads). That Super Sunday was no different, coming back from 20-10 down in the fourth quarter to top the San Francisco 49ers 31-20. Mahomes earned MVP honors with 286 yards and two scoring passes, including the winner to running back Damien Williams, who also ran for 104 yards and the clincher that put the Niners away.
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A rematch between the Chiefs and the 49ers is highly possible: each earned big victories on Wild Card weekend, with Kansas City handling Pittsburgh and the 49ers earning an upset win over the Dallas Cowboys.
San Francisco will need another surprise as they face the top-seed Green Bay Packers next Saturday night (8:15 p.m. ET, Fox) while the Chiefs face the Bills in an AFC title game rematch on Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET, CBS).
Kansas City is looking to become the first team since Brady's aforementioned Patriots group in the late 2010s to reach three consecutive Super Bowls.