Tampa Bay Buccaneers' quarterback Tom Brady officially retired earlier this week, ending his historic 22-year NFL career. Brady is viewed as the best quarterback in NFL history as he won seven Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots and the Buccaneers. Although he played the Chicago Bears just seven times during his career, the future Hall of Fame quarterback completely dominated the team.

Brady's First Game Against The Bears Was A Sign Of Things To Come

One of the reasons why Brady is regarded as the best quarterback in NFL history is because of the number of times he led both the Patriots and Buccaneers to come-from-behind victories. The first time the former Patriots' quarterback played the Bears came during week 10 of the 2002 season when Chicago played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign. The game against the Bears would be Brady's first significant come-from-behind victory. Midway through the third quarter, Chicago led New England 27-6 before the Patriots' quarterback began his comeback. Brady and New England's offense would score 27 points in the last 18 minutes of the game, including a game-winning 20-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver David Patten with only 30-seconds left in the game. The comeback against the Bears is forgotten in the quarterback's long list of come-from-behind victories that include the historic 25-point comeback in Super Bowl 51 against the Atlanta Falcons.

Brady Has Beaten Some Of The Best Bears' Teams

The rest of the games between the Bears and Patriots have been dominated by Brady. Since 2006, New England and Chicago have faced off four times, with the Patriots winning each contest. Brady has played a significant role in each game, whether leading New England's offense on a game-winning touchdown drive or leading them to an offensive onslaught. In the four games against the Bears with the Patriots, he passed for 11 touchdowns and only three interceptions, two of which came on tipped passes.

Brady's dominance is even more remarkable as three of those four victories against Chicago came against three of the best Bears' teams in recent history. The 2006, 2010, 2018 Bears' teams all won the NFC North Division and had top-five defenses. In all three games, Brady passed for over 250 yards as New England's offense scored 31 points or more in two of the three games against Chicago. The 2010 game is most significant given the weather conditions that Brady and the Bears played. In a week 14 matchup that many NFL analysts viewed as a potential matchup for Super Bowl 45, the game took place during a blizzard. Due to the howling winds and significant snow that created white-out conditions, the Bears were favored to win the game. Brady proved everyone wrong as the Patriots' offense would score 27 points in the first half, including a 59-yard touchdown pass at the end of the first half. The future Hall of Fame quarterback would throw for 369 yards and finish with a completion percentage of 67.5, which is unbelievable given how bad the weather conditions were for the game.

The fact that Brady has been victorious over those three Bears' teams is amazing, given the success of each of those teams. The 2006 Bears represented the NFC in Super Bowl 41, while the 2010 Bears hosted the NFC Championship game. The 2018 Bears had the best defense in the NFL, as they led the league in turnovers and sacks. The three teams combined for only 12 losses, with a quarter of those losses to Brady. After Brady left New England following the 2019 season, he would play for Tampa Bay, where he faced Chicago over the next two seasons. His only loss to the Bears in his career came in 2020. Chicago defeated Tampa Bay 20-19, as Brady failed to get the Buccaneers' offense into field goal range after forgetting how many downs Tampa Bay's offense had left.

Brady's last game against Chicago came this season in a Week 7 matchup in Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers won in a blowout by a score of 38-3 as the game was practically over at halftime, with the Bucs leading 35-3. Brady passed for four touchdowns in the first half of the game and was pulled early in the fourth quarter. Chicago has faced domination every year from Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers but Brady has proven to be almost as dominant in the limited time playing against the Bears. From 2002 to 2018, Chicago only played New England four times, but the Patriots won each game in a controlling fashion. It is unlikely that there will be another quarterback in NFL history to do what Brady did against the Bears in the small number of games.