"We all know the wife matters" - Stephen A. Smith believes Gisele Bundchen is the only reason Tom Brady would retire 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' and Tom Brady's season ended this past weekend, following their 30-27 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round.

Following the loss, the Tampa Bay quarterback will be forced to make a difficult decision this off-season -- retire or return to the Bucs again for another season, which could potentially be his last.

While First Take host Stephen A. Smith thinks the seven-time Super Bowl champion will be back next season, he also believes there is one thing that could potentially make him walk away from the game. On Tuesday morning, Smith addressed the situation, saying he believes TB12's wife, Gisele Bundchen, could be the one thing that takes him away from the game.

"If you're Tom Brady, the thing that I continuously point to is the fact he always talked about playing until he was 45. Last time I checked he was 44. He'll be 45 next season, and since he's known as a guy that's pretty good with his word when he tells you what the mission is, he's pretty good about following it."

"To me, leaving now will be a year early, but I will say what gives me cause to pause when I looked at how comfortable Gisele, the wife... cause we all know the wife matters. She was in the suite when they were down 27-3. She didn't look too phased. She was up there having a ball. My point is, I've seen her before ... coming to her husband's defense. I looked at her, and it looked like this could be the end, and she's quite comfortable with it ending because she's wanted him to stop playing for years."

Family could force Tom Brady to retire this off-season

During the Bucs' season, Brady faced the reality of being asked multiple times whether he will retire or not. And the frequency of those questions will only increase in the off-season. Brady talked about his next steps in his weekly podcast, Let's Go, with Jim Grey.

"It pains her (Gisele) to see me get hit out there. And she deserves what she needs from me as a husband and my kids deserve what they need from me as a dad."

Brady added that he loves playing football, but, at the same time, gains plenty of enjoyment spending time with his family

"But not playing football, there's a lot of joy in that for me also now, too, with my kids getting older and seeing them develop and grow. So all these things need to be considered and they will be."

Athletes saying they'd retire due to family

Many athletes devote all their time, focus, and dedication to their sports careers. During the season, athletes may not see their family for long periods of time, as they're always traveling from city-to-city every week. It isn't uncommon for athletes to retire earlier than expected, mainly due to either health issues or from simply being away from the most important thing in the world -- family.

Giannis Antetokounmpo said in an interview last year that if his son were to ask him to spend more time with him, he would retire right away.

Other athletes that retired in order to focus on their family include Andrew Luck, Jason Witten, Casey Stoner, Aaron Schobel. It's not uncommon for athletes to retire early or while they're in their prime. Of course, they can retire for a number of reasons, but it seems the most important one is to spend time with family.