TAMPA, Fla. _ Five games into the Tom Brady era, and we have a crisis.
Maybe it's a minor crisis, something that will quickly blow over. If I had to guess, I'd say that's probably the case.
Yet it feels irresponsible to simply ignore because there's also the possibility this is just the beginning.
I'm talking, of course, of the fourth-down fiasco.
On Thursday night, Brady had a chance to set the Bucs up for a game-winning field goal in the final minute against the Bears, but he appeared to lose track of the downs. Thinking it was third-and-5 when it was actually fourth down, he threw a low-percentage pass downfield that fell incomplete and ended Tampa Bay's comeback.
Of course, the world is having a good laugh at Brady's expense. Jokes about senior moments and misplacing car keys abound. I'd be shocked if the video of a sheepish Brady holding up four fingers isn't among the most popular GIFs of the season.
But for Tampa Bay fans, there should be larger concerns. Not about the gaffe itself. Those things happen. Even to Hall of Famers. It's the implications and ramifications that are worrisome.
Specifically, this:
1. Was Brady rattled by Chicago's heightened pass rush, and is that the path to beating Tampa Bay?
2. What does it say about Brady's accountability that he sidestepped questions about the play?
Every defensive coordinator on Tampa Bay's schedule should be watching video of Thursday night's game and taking notes. Not every team has a Khalil Mack in the defensive huddle, but there were enough breakdowns on Tampa Bay's offensive line to make you wonder about the group's apparent progress through the season's first month.
This was always going to be the overriding question of Brady's tenure. He's in fantastic shape for 43, but that's still a crazy age for an NFL player. Brady doesn't move as well as most quarterbacks, and it would make sense if his body is less immune to abuse. Every single hit he takes will end up having some cumulative effect either physically or mentally.
In Tampa Bay's three victories, Brady has nine touchdown passes, two interceptions and is averaging 7.42 yards per attempt. In the two losses, he has three touchdowns, two interceptions and is averaging 6.39 yards per attempt. The big difference besides the scoreboard? He was sacked a combined six times by the Bears and Saints. In the three wins, he was only sacked twice.
You could say it's a small sample size, and you could say it was to be expected against the two best teams the Bucs have faced. But that doesn't guarantee that it won't be a trend going forward.
The other issue is probably not as important, but it's more disappointing.
All we heard through training camp was how demanding Brady was of his teammates. He yelled, he teased, he cajoled. He wasn't afraid of getting in anyone's face and telling them they were screwing up.
We've seen it publicly, too. Brady has screamed at teammates in full view of cameras in at least two of Tampa Bay's five games, including Thursday night. In some ways, that's commendable. He's competitive and he's taken responsibility for making sure everyone does their best.
But is Brady willing to grade himself by those same high standards?
The fourth-down flameout was the play of the game. No matter what had happened in the previous 59 minutes, the Bucs had a chance to win the game on that drive. For a quarterback to apparently forget that it was fourth down is a pee-wee league error.
Yet when he was initially asked about it, Brady offered a non-answer. Asked more directly about it a few minutes later, Brady again declined to say whether he lost track of the situation.
Seriously? You're going to yell at an offensive lineman for missing a block but you're not going to acknowledge your own game-ending blunder? Maybe Brady did that in the locker room afterward, and that's fine. But he's embarrassed others on camera, and he needs to own that publicly.
It isn't pleasant, but it comes with the territory. It comes with the $25 million salary, it comes with the endorsements, it comes with the adulation. It also comes with leadership.
If you're Brady's teammate and you watched him weasel out of those questions, how amenable will you be the next time he tries to dress you down in front of the world?
Brady, meanwhile, is not expected to face the local media again until Thursday. Maybe he'll find a friendlier national outlet to explain himself before then. That seems to be his favored way of communicating.
Or maybe he's forgotten about it already.
He is kind of old, you know.
