TAMPA, Fla. — Tom Brady’s third touchdown pass of Super Bowl 55, a 1-yard dagger to Antonio Brown with six seconds left in the first half, didn’t knock the Chiefs out, but it drew a little bad blood.
Kansas City star safety Tyrann Mathieu, who had been flagged for one of two pass-interference penalties on the drive, wagged his finger near the face mask of the Bucs’ 43-year-old quarterback.
Brady pushed back and a screaming match continued to midfield. As the Chiefs discovered Sunday, when you provoke the old GOAT, sometimes you get the horns.
A Bucs season that was filled with possibility when Brady arrived in March and grew with promise ended with a stunning 31-9 victory Sunday night over the defending champion Chiefs at Raymond James Stadium.
Unreal.
Leave it to the former Patriots — Brady, tight end Rob Gronkowski and Brown (albeit, his being a short stint) — to show the Bucs how to win the franchise’s second Lombardi Trophy.
Gronkowski was on the receiving end of Brady’s first two touchdown passes, and the third went to Brown.
In his first season with the Bucs, Brady won his seventh NFL championship, having left New England after 20 seasons. Brady completed a Super Bowl-record 80 percent of his first-half passes with the three TDs and was named the game’s MVP. He became only the second quarterback to lead two different franchises to a Super Bowl title, joining new Hall of Famer Peyton Manning (Colts and Broncos).
The fact that the Super Bowl title came during a pandemic, with no offseason workouts or preseason games, only grew Brady’s legend to Ruthian heights.
It also should end any talk that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who struggled against the Bucs’ swarming defense all game, has a realistic chance to overtake Brady one day with Super Bowl rings.
Large Super Bowl gatherings might have been frowned upon Sunday, but bay area fans can scream it from the rooftops: The Bucs are world champions. Again.
As the final seconds ticked off, the cannons that had been muzzled during the game fired and Raymond James Stadium vibrated despite a socially distanced crowd of 24,835, not including cardboard cutouts partisan to the Bucs. The confetti fell on Brady’s shoulders again, this time in a Bucs uniform.
Gronkowski had been talked out of retirement by Brady, who convinced the Bucs to trade for his rights during the offseason.
Brown had served a league-mandated suspension for the first eight games of this season before Brady lobbied to bring him to Tampa Bay. He even let Brown stay at the home he was renting from former Yankees great Derek Jeter.
Penalties were the big story for the Chiefs in the first half. They had eight, including a host of flags for pass interference.
Meanwhile, the Bucs defense bottled up Mahomes and took away their deep threat, wide receiver Tyreek Hill.
The Chiefs receiver had burned the Bucs for 269 yards and three touchdowns in Kansas City’s 27-23 win in November at Raymond James Stadium. But he had only three catches for 34 yards entering the fourth quarter.
After the Chiefs managed a 52-yard field goal to start the second half, Brady got the Bucs back in the end zone. His 29-yard pass to Gronkowski set up Leonard Fournette’s 27-yard TD run.
An interception by rookie safety Antoine Winfield on a tipped Mahomes pass led to a 52-yard field goal by Tampa Bay’s Ryan Succop.
Credit the Bucs defense for slowing the league’s No. 1 offense. The unit did it by chasing the elusive Mahomes to all corners of the field, dominating a beat-up Chiefs offensive line for two sacks.
Also give a lot of credit to 68-year-old coach Bruce Arians, who never wavered in his belief that if the Bucs could sign Brady and keep the defense intact, they could make a run to the Super Bowl.
