Michigan Football: How is Tom Brady in his 9th Super Bowl?

Former Michigan football quarterback Tom Brady led the New England Patriots to a win over the Chiefs Sunday, sending the QB to his ninth Super Bowl.

Tom Brady, the one-time Michigan football quarterback isn’t human. He just can’t be because no human could lead a team to the Super Bowl nine times, which is exactly what Brady achieved after engineering a 37-31 overtime win over the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead.

Simply put, Brady is the greatest player to ever step onto a football field and after another unthinkable run to the Super Bowl, it’s not even up for debate.

Forget the best quarterback of all time. That argument was settled long ago, basically the day Brady passed Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw by winning his fifth Super Bowl.

No one will ever forget what Brady did to win that game, leading his team back from a 28-3 deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons. That seemed like the cherry on top of the greatest career professional football has ever seen.

But wait, there’s more.

Last season, Brady pulled a rabbit out of his hat to beat the Jaguars in the AFC title game. New England trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter, against an elite defense. But, just like he did against Seattle in the Super Bowl, Brady led back-to-back touchdown drives and got New England to the big game once again.

Eight Super Bowl berths seemed unthinkable, what about nine?

At times this season, nine didn’t feel all that possible. The former Michigan football standout felt more human than ever and so did the Patriots. There were injuries to get over and some bad losses too.

However, when the playoffs rolled around, Brady and the Pats did what they do best — win.

While the final numbers against the Chiefs weren’t as great as some of Brady’s other games, he still completed 30-of-48 passes for 348 yards and threw one touchdown compared to two picks.

The second interception helped Kansas City overcome a 14-point deficit to go in front 21-17. Patrick Mahomes only needed to cover 23 yards. The next time the Patriots had the ball, Brady led them on a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that put New England back in front.

Kansas City got gifted a touchdown on its next drive, as two questionable pass interference calls quickly moved the ball into Pats territory. Then, a missed offensive pass interference, which led to a big play and advanced the ball to the two, allowed KC to score and go ahead again 28-24 with 2:03 left in the game.

For any mere mortal, it would have been game over. But Brady is no mortal. He’s some kind of demi-god and after tonight, we will never forget it.

With the old, battered duo of Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski, Brady continued to work his magic against one of the best pass-rushing defenses in the league. He knew he was going to take hits — he just didn’t care. Winning was more important and that’s what it took.

With Edelman, Gronk, Chris Hogan and a trio of running backs, Brady knew guys weren’t going to get a ton of separation. He knew that he had to be perfect and after his second interception, he basically was.

Down three and needing a score, Brady went to work. He hit Edelman for a first down, then on a third-and-five in Chiefs territory, he threaded the needle to Gronk for 25 yards and a first-and-goal. Rex Burkhead scored on the next play and the Pats led by three.

However, the Patriots defense allowed a game-tying field goal, which meant overtime and another chance for Brady to remind us just how great he is.

Once the Patriots won the coin toss, we should have all known the game was basically over. Despite facing third-and-10 three different times on the drive, Brady led the Patriots on a 15-play, 75-yard drive that sent the Michigan football legend to his ninth Super Bowl.

On the first two third-and-10 conversions, he found Edelman with passes that can only be described as perfect. Then, he hit Gronk on the next third-and-10 and once that was converted, you could feel the impending doom for Kansas City.

In the end, Burkhead punched the Pats Super Bowl ticket with this four-yard run, which culminated the third straight drive of 65-yards or more engineered by Brady in another stunning fourth-quarter comeback.

Playing New England is like playing on All-Madden, sometimes, no matter what you do, the computer is just going to win. It seems that somehow, someway, Brady has mastered that superpower.

It doesn’t always work and every so often, Brady will show the tiniest chink in his armor. But then, he takes an 11-5 team that no one believed could win the Super Bowl, let alone make it and all he does is bring them to the doorstep of a championship again.

So outside of calling Brady the GOAT, which he obviously is, we should use the only other superlative that fits when describing his ability to deliver in the clutch and that’s superhuman.

After all, Brady may be the goat but he’s also a demi-god that might just win a sixth Super Bowl title.