A déjà vu Super Bowl for the history books

National Post, 06 February 2021

We have seen the two major stories of this Super Bowl before, but that won't diminish the excitement.

This Sunday’s Super Bowl will be, as Yogi Berra once said, like déjà vu all over again. Again and again.

We have seen the Tom Brady show before. He makes his astonishing 10th appearance in the championship game — only the actual Vince Lombardi trophy itself has been to more Super Bowls.

But its déjà vu again because we have also seen the two major stories of this Super Bowl before.

Exactly five years ago, Super Bowl 50 involved the aged Peyton Manning — then the oldest quarterback ever to start a Super Bowl — attempt to become the first quarterback to win the Super Bowl with two different teams. This time around, Brady is the now the oldest, and he is attempting to win with Tampa Bay what he won six times with New England.

Five years ago, Manning was going up against the hottest new thing in football — both on and off the field. Quarterback Cam Newton led the Carolina Panthers, a team that had the most explosive offence in the National Football League. He was the league’s most valuable player and was seen as the future of football.

The future sometimes doesn’t last very long. Newton was defeated by the (elderly) Manning that day — or, more to the point, the smothering Denver defence. In any case, that was when his career began its long, downhill slide. Every year, sports provides a new star. Only a few in a generation manage to burn brightly long into the night.

Manning-Newton in 2016 was at the time the greatest age difference in Super Bowl quarterback history; Manning was 13 years older than his rival. This time, Brady is 18 years older than the stellar quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, the 2018 MVP and reigning Super Bowl champion, Patrick Mahomes. He is now the hottest new thing in football. Brady, in fact, is only seven years younger than Mahomes’ father.

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