Tom Brady is the GOAT.
It must be so. Respondents to the questions in this week’s “Polling Place” — your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter — made that clear.
Sorry, Joe Montana. You, too, John Elway, Peyton Manning and the rest. That includes you, Aaron Rodgers.
We asked if the Buccaneers’ old-timer is the best quarterback ever, and the collective answer was a decisive yes.
“Most decorated, partly because his [Patriots] teams and coach were also amazing,” @mike_lox commented. “Not the most talented or actual best at the position. Manning, Rodgers, possibly Drew Brees all more talented during his era alone. Patrick Mahomes may go down as the best to ever do it.”
OK, so it wasn’t completely decisive.
More urgently: We asked who’s going to win Sunday’s conference championship games. The picks are in — Packers and Chiefs — and they’re about as surprising as your neighbor Earl’s “dibs” chair the morning after a snowstorm.
“Anybody but the Packers,” wrote Dwill2win2, revealing quite the Bears rivalry bias.
On to the polls:
Poll No. 1: What’s your predicted Super Bowl matchup?
Time again for our weekly @suntimes "Polling Place" questions. Let us hear from you! Selected comments will appear in Saturday's paper.
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) January 21, 2021
Q1: What’s your predicted Super Bowl matchup?
Upshot: But wait, what happened to all the Brady love? There’s very little belief here that he’ll be able to engineer a Brady-like victory on a huge stage in a huge game. He out-rings Rodgers six to one, in case anybody cares. Meanwhile, the Mahomes questions: Will he play? And is his noggin OK?
Poll No. 2: If you had to pick one quarterback today for a must-win game, whom would it be?
Q2: If you had to pick one quarterback today for a must-win game, whom would it be?
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) January 21, 2021
Upshot: First, respect to the dyed-in-the-wool contrarians who picked Allen. No, not really. Again, though, Brady fades into the background with this one, which is fascinating. It’s interesting, too, that Rodgers beats out Mahomes. Would a non-Bears-fan audience see it this way?
Poll No. 3: Is Brady the best quarterback in NFL history?
Q3: Is Brady the best quarterback in NFL history?
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) January 21, 2021
Upshot: It’s hard to fake six rings. No, Brady isn’t perfect. He isn’t nimble, for one thing, and never has been. No one would ever call him a dual threat. No one would call his arm the strongest. But have we mentioned that it’s hard to fake six rings? Some guys just have that winning “it.” No one has had it quite like Tom Terrific.
