Tom Brady, Buccaneers’ playoff loss keeps insane NFL stat alive

Tom Brady is the latest NFL passing leader to not lead his team to a Super Bowl championship.

For the 56th year in a row, the NFL‘s leader passer will not lead his team to a Super Bowl championship, as Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came up short on Sunday.

Brady led the league with 5,316 passing yards in his age-44 season out of Michigan. Interestingly enough, this was the fourth time he has led the league in passing in his unforgettable career. The last time he did it, the 2017 New England Patriots lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 52 in Minneapolis. One of these days, someone will buck this awful trend, but not until 2022 at least.

I mean, just look at all these guys who led the league in passing, but did not go on to win it all.

Tom Brady is latest NFL passing leader to fail to lead team to a Super Bowl win

Though there is no direct causation or correlation for this, here is why leading the league in passing never seems to translate to a quarterback hoisting a Lombardi Trophy in a given year. First, once the weather changes, it is easier to run the ball to a championship than throwing it. Second, passing numbers are inflated when a team trails. And three, what about the blowouts?

When a team is elite, it is often playing with a lead. In that case, that team usually is in a position to milk the clock by running the ball or having a backup come in during extreme garbage time. In short, teams can be good when their starting quarterback throws for a ton of yardage, but they rarely are the best team in their respective conference in a given season. Just look at the data.

Brady needed to throw for all those yards to win the division, but it was not in the cards to win Lombardi Trophy No. 8 this season.