With 1:13 to go Thursday night against the
Chicago Bears and trailing 20-19 at Soldier Field,
Tom Brady and the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers got the ball at their own 25-yard line. In Brady's dazzling, 21-year career, he had orchestrated 59 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime, the most by any NFL quarterback since the AFL merger.
But on third-and-6, a pass sailed over the fingertips of trusted tight end
Rob Gronkowski. And on fourth-and-6, with 38 seconds to go, Brady failed to connect with tight end
Cameron Brate, with safety
DeAndre Houston-Carson draped all over Brate.
After the last pass was ruled incomplete -- and the Bears took over on downs -- Brady flashed four fingers and appeared confused, before showing visible frustration when he got back to the sideline.
Brady went over to the bench and slammed his helmet repeatedly into the ground before jogging off the field as the Bears ran out the clock
in victory.
Brady and the Buccaneers had jumped out to a 13-0 lead; and Brady had won 42 consecutive starts dating to 2015 when his team had led by 13 points or more -- the longest active streak for an NFL signal-caller.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30074662/focusing-yards-not-first-was-wrong-approach