A super matchup of quarterbacks in the Super Bowl
By Art Spander
It’s about the quarterback. Isn’t it always? It’s about Joe Montana or Terry Bradshaw or John Elway. Or Sunday in Super Bowl LV, Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes.
Decision maker. Play caller. Man in bubble. Man under pressure.
Brady, 43, arguably the best ever; Mahomes, 25, arguably the best now.
Such a disparity in ages. Such a similarity in production.
So much is made of quarterbacks, yet it never can be too much. Montana was the reason the 49ers became champs. Bradshaw was the Steelers’ anchor, Elway the force on the Broncos.
There’s never been a great team without a great quarterback. Defense may dominate — it won Super Bowl 50 for the Broncos. The other team will have the ball.
But what you do when you have the ball? That’s where the quarterback makes the difference. As Brady completing 43 of 62 attempts in New England’s comeback win over Atlanta in Super Bowl LI made a difference. As Mahomes completing passes to lead K.C. from behind in the fourth quarter to beat the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV made a difference.
Now with possibly the best Super Bowl quarterback matchup of all time, Brady of Tampa Bay vs. Mahomes of Kansas City — yes, Montana vs. Dan Marino in XIX is up there — the question is who will be the difference maker?
Mahomes has the arm, as well as the legs. He’s stronger, longer and, when needing to escape or run the ball, faster. Brady, in his 10th Super Bowl, is wiser.
Mahomes was MVP of last year’s Super Bowl in Miami. Brady has been MVP of multiple Super Bowls — his team, the New England Patriots, winner in six of them.
The Chiefs liked what was available. Mahomes lasted until the 10th pick of the 2017 draft (the Bears took QB Mitch Trubisky with the second overall pick).
The Bucs knew what they needed in the spring of 2020, a free agent quarterback. “Of course it was Tom Brady,” said coach Bruce Arians, “not thinking he would become a free agent.”
Brady became one, after 20 years with New England, and Arians reacted. “That’s how you live life,” Arians explained. “Do you sit and live in a closet and try to be safe, or do you go have some fun?”
The answer is written not on the wind but in the wins.
“I looked at the whole situation,” Brady said after signing with Tampa Bay. “There were a lot of reasons to come here.” Not the least of which was a two-year, $50 million contract.
Mahomes in July signed a 10-year $500 million contract, which, if it goes to completion and he stays healthy and interested, would make him a free agent at 35. Presumably Brady will be retired by then, but one never knows.
What we do know, not surprisingly, is that both Mahomes and Brady seem as impressed with the style and results of each other as the performances would indicate.
“You’re crazy,” said Mahomes, “if you don’t look up to Tom Brady as a young athlete. He’s the type of greatness you strive to be. It’s going to be a great opportunity for me to get to play against Tom, an all-time great, the GOAT (greatest of all time), everything like that.”
Brady, a sixth-round pick in 2000, surely looks at Mahomes and pictures himself. The way it was, the way it is and maybe the way it will be.
Said Brady of Mahomes, “I think he’s got the ability to focus when the moments are the biggest. That’s probably the mark of any great athlete, coming through in the clutch. I think he’s off to a great start in his career doing that.”
The chance for Mahomes to continue comes in a Super Bowl against Brady. What a matchup. It’s always the quarterback.