Let's Never Forget Tom Brady's Impassioned Case for Why an Early Playoff Exit is Better Than Losing a Championship
Mike Ehrmann. Getty Images."In 'Confessions of a Winning Poker Player,' Jack King said, 'Few players recall big pots they have won, strange as it seems, but every player can remember with remarkable accuracy the outstanding tough beats of his career.' It seems true to me, cause walking in here, I can hardly remember how I built my bankroll, but I can't stop thinking of how I lost it."
- Mike McDermott narrating, Rounders
One of the defining character traits of all human beings is the question of whether they're motivated more by positive outcomes or by negative consequences. Simply put, whether it's achieving success that drives them, or fear of failure. A 2013 paper in the Journal of Educational Psychology (a real page-turner, I'm sure) referred to this dynamic as "implicit need," and suggested it governs all individuals' behavior.
Well there is no greater expert on the subjects of motivation, success and winning than Tom Brady. All the eggheads in all of academia in all the world can test their hypotheses, study their research subjects and publish their results all they want. Brady has lived it. He was the eye of the hurricane through the highest of highs, and on rare occasions, the lowest of lows. This is a man who not only won seven Super Bowls, but lost three. One of which was to the current Super Bowl champions in a game when he posted a stat line of 28-for-48, 505 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs, 115.4 passer rating. Which makes him the World's Foremost Authority on the topic of what Patrick Mahomes is experiencing right now.
OK, maybe it's not a perfect comparison, based on Mahomes' numbers when it was still a ballgame:
… but it'll have to do. Brady may have never had his brakes beaten off on the biggest stage the way Mahomes has. Hell, the way he did to Mahomes' team himself. But he's suffered heartbreak nevertheless. And even before the Chiefs coughed up all their vital organs Sunday, he had the greatest take on the question of whether it's better to get bounced out of the playoffs early or lose in the championship. And I think what he says applies to every athlete in every sport across the board. The truly elite ones, anyway:
“When you lose this game, this is on your resume forever. A loss in the Super Bowl matters more than any loss that you’re ever going to be a part of.
“When I go to Philly and they go ‘Philly Special! Philly Special!' And I’m at the Knicks game with my son and Spike Lee, I throw him a ball, and he catches it on his head like the ‘Helmet Catch!’ That was 17 years ago, and I’m still living that thing down.
"No one remembers the loss I had to Peyton in the 2015 championship game. No one talks about the loss to Denver in the 2013 championship game. No one talks about the loss to the Ravens in the 2012 AFC championship game. They all tell me about the losses in the Super Bowl though."
I acknowledge that this was days ago and you might be wondering why I'm still bringing it up. And the answer is, I can't stop thinking about it. I think this attitude, more than any other, is what drives the athletes we enjoy watching. The genuinely great ones can never get over the near misses. Flying close to the sun only to have the wax in their wings melt and crashing to the ground. They'd all rather fail utterly than have ultimate victory be so close they can smell it, then have it taken away from them. Brady said it. But you know it's true of Jordan, Gretzky, Bird, Tiger. All the hyper-motivated, super-competitive success junkies who make sports great.
The rest of us civilians might want to see our teams go as far as they possibly can. The logic being that four rounds of a postseason are better than three. But noted expert on winning Tom Brady disagrees. And I'm sure Mahomes is saying the same thing right now.