Football, Coaching Decisions, and the Final GPR

 This scene from earlier this season will 

be repeated on Super Bowl Sunday

The NFL's Conference Championship games served to produce a Super Bowl match-up made in Heaven, 43 year old Tom Brady against Young Gun Patrick Mahomes.  The greatest quarterback of all time against the greatest quarterback in the NFL today.  It was problematic from the outset that an NFL season would be completed in 2020, and that it will culminate in this head-to-head contest has to be beyond the wildest dreams of Roger Goodell and the Punjabs who run the NFL, not to mention those of us who watch and follow the game.

Simply put, there really are no words left to describe Tom Brady and his accomplishments, so I won't even try.  Simply remarkable.

Nor will I go into trying to summarize the two games yesterday.  If you follow the game, you already know.  However, I simply have to comment on the two pivotal coaching moments in the NFC game.

First, with :20 remaining in the first half, the Bucs are facing fourth and four at midfield and send out the punt team to end the half and head into the locker room up 14-10.  After a time out, Bruce Arians says "screw that", Brady hooks up on  short pass to get the first down, then, with :08 remaining, Brady hits a bomb down the sideline for a touchdown and a 21-10 lead.  On Facebook I commented, "I wonder if the Packers will ever be able to recover from that dagger that Brady just plunged into them."

Next, with 2:06 remaining, the Packers trailing by eight points, 31-23, it is fourth and goal on the Bucs' eight yard line.  With presumptive MVP Aaron Rodgers at QB, only eight yards away from a chance to tie the game and go into overtime, HC Matt LeFleur elects to kick a field goal. And we all thought that Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash made the dumbest coaching move of the year in Game Six of the World Series.  Granted, Green Bay had all three time outs remaining, plus the two minute warning, but they were also putting the ball back into the hands of Tom F. Brady.  Did anyone in the world possibly think that Brady wasn't going to be able to bleed the clock and end that game?  Congrats on losing by only five points instead of eight, Coach.

It's going to be a long, long time until LeFleur lives that one down.

This leads us to the final Grandstander Power Rankings of the season.

1. Chiefs
2. Buccaneers

These should probably be labeled 1 and 1a, only because Tom Brady is at the helm of the Bucs.  At this point, I lean towards the Chiefs over the Bucs in the Super Bowl, but in the end, when it's time to put actual coin of the realm on the line, will you be able to actually bring yourself to bet against Tom Brady? We shall see.