Love him or hate him, Tom Brady has once again shown the NFL his top-notch capabilities, winning his seventh Super Bowl in this year’s game playing for Tampa Bay taking on Kansas City. Brady pulled out an unprecedented win, helping Tampa Bay gain its second Super Bowl victory at the age of 43. He achieved this in addition to it being his first season as a member of the team, all the while carrying this out during the chaotic ups and downs that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought the 2020-2021 football season. 

Brady joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the heat of the pandemic, preventing him from starting practice with the team until July 29th and COVID-19 safety procedures adding an additional layer of difficulty in forming bonds with new teammates. To top it off, this football season had no preseason games, but despite it all, Brady still managed to lead the Buccaneers, who hadn’t even made it to the playoffs since 2007, let alone win the Super Bowl, to triumph. 

Brady was able to accomplish said win by completing 21 of 29 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. He was also aided by running backs Ronald Jones II, who had 12 carries and 61 yards, as well as Leonard Fournette, with 16 carries, 89 yards, and one score. 

Additionally, the Buccaneers defense maintained a fast and aggressive energy throughout the game. Tampa’s defense limited Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, as cited by Sporting News, to “26-of-49 passing for 270 yards and pulled in two interceptions.” Mahomes also found himself getting ambushed in the backfield throughout the night, with three sacks resulting in 27 yards in losses. 

However, this year’s views were surprisingly underwhelming, hitting the lowest they’ve been since the 2007 face off of the Colts vs the Bears. The 2021 Super Bowl only reached 96.4 million viewers, in stark comparison to 2020’s 102 million. This dip in views raises an increased curiosity as to why. 

Tampa Bay ended the third-quarter leading 31-9, heavily hinting that Kansas City had no room for redemption in the fourth-quarter. This impacted viewership given that viewership is measured throughout the game, averaging out how many are tuned in each minute of the game. However, this third quarter indication that there would be a limited competition for Tampa to win led to many tuning out as the game lost its edge. 

Along with this, since gatherings are discouraged in these times, people were unable to gather with one another to watch the game. It seems as though many opted to not watch the Super Bowl at all as opposed to watching it alone, with only 38 percent of households with a television watching the game, the lowest percentage since 1969, as reported by Nielsen.

Finishing out the game, Brady told reporters when asked where this win ranked amongst his six other Super Bowl wins, “”I’m not making any comparisons. Being down here and experiencing it with this group of guys is — every year is amazing, and this team is world champions forever. You can’t take it away from us. Thank you guys. Thank you all.”