Super Bowl 2021: Tom Brady wins seventh title as Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Kansas City Chiefs

While at New England, Brady formed the NFL's most successful quarterback-coach partnership with Bill Belichick, and when he left, some felt that Belichick deserved more of the credit, that Brady would get 'found out' without him.

But the Patriots endured their first losing season since 2000 - the year before Brady became their starting QB - while Brady has won another Super Bowl, with a team he joined during a pandemic, after a heavily disrupted off-season with no pre-season games.

It was also a team that, before this season, had not won a play-off game since winning Super Bowl 37. They had not reached the post-season at all since 2007.

But Brady recognised they were gradually building a competitive roster. They had a solid offensive line that would protect him in the pocket and two of the NFL's best receivers in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

During Super Bowl week, coach Bruce Arians said Brady was "the missing piece". For good measure, they brought Gronkowski out of retirement, gave Brown another chance and picked up free agent Fournette.

All came to the fore as the Bucs ramped up for an unlikely run at the Super Bowl and after Kansas City opened the scoring with a field goal, Brady found Brown twice on the next drive before sending tight end Gronkowski over with a screen pass.

The pair combined to devastating effect at New England before Gronkowski retired after winning Super Bowl 53 with Brady and the Patriots. The 31-year-old had brief stints in WWE and television during his time out. But after easing back into the rigours of the NFL with seven touchdowns during the regular season, he caught a 17-yard strike by Brady for his second of Super Bowl 55.

The Chiefs finally got some offence going to reply with a field goal, 61 seconds from half-time, and just as they did in the NFC Championship game against the Packers, Tampa Bay claimed a crucial score right before the half as Brady completed a 71-yard drive by finding Brown in the end zone.

Kansas City rallied at the start of the second half and cut the deficit with another field goal, but the Bucs continued to dominate on both sides of the ball, stifling the NFL's best offence.

Brady found Gronkowski for another big play before Fournette burst through for a 27-yard touchdown to seal a victory which many dreamed of in Tampa when Brady came aboard, but few would have thought was possible.

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