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We know Tom Brady's series of achievements. In his NFL career of more than two decades, no one has been a part of as much success as he has been.
He has won seven Super Bowls and played in 10. He has been there at the business end of the season more often than not. He has been to 14 conference championship games, which is at a rate faster than every other year. We are used to seeing Brady in the postseason. He has been as reliable a marker of success during the winter months as the first snow of the season is.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered the game today against the Arizona Cardinals with a losing 6-8 record, knowing a loss would tie them in the NFC South with the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints.
There is a good chance that they might end up missing the postseason and even if they do, they have a terrible division they are part of to thank.
That begs the question of when was the last time Tom Brady did not play in the postseason. Has such an event ever occurred? As it turns out, it has.
Tom Brady's last playoff miss was in 2002
The last time Tom Brady missed the playoffs was in 2002 when he was with the New England Patriots. He had won his first Super Bowl against the Rams earlier in the year and was now established as their starter, replacing Drew Bledsoe, who he had relieved due to injury the previous year.
They finished with an identical 9-7 record to the New York Jets in the AFC East, but were pipped to the division title and failed to make it to the postseason.
One season after winning the Super Bowl, there were some who questioned whether Tom Brady was the real deal. As it turned out, this season was an outlier, as the Patriots won two consecutive Super Bowls and established themselves as a dynasty under Brady and Bill Belichick.
Tom Brady has gone a full two decades without missing the playoffs and if he does so this year, this will be a huge upset. He entered this season with a team that he had led to a Super Bowl triumph just two years ago and was the quarterback with the most touchdowns and yards last season. That we are even discussing this possibility shows just how far below his usual standards Brady has been.
