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Tom Brady is arguably the greatest professional football player of all-time. However, he is going through an adjustment period in his first full season in the broadcast booth for Fox Sports. He made the kind of error in the pregame introduction of the Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings Week 17 game that he almost never made when he was in uniform for the New England Patriots or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Working with broadcast partner Kevin Burkhardt, Brady was giving his overview of the Packers and talking about their improvement as the season went along. He was mentioning the teams they had lost to and came up with their two defeats to the Lions and their loss to the Eagles, but he struggled when it came to recalling their fourth loss. Mistakes happen, but it was to the same Vikings the Packers were playing at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Perhaps the standards are somewhat unfair because Brady was a brilliant quarterback who won seven Super Bowls during his career. But that's the situation that Brady is facing as he sits in his chair as his network's top NFL analyst.
It is fairly clear that Brady has grown more conversational as the season has progressed. He also does a good job of explaining what quarterbacks and offensive teams are thinking in game situations. But mistakes happen and he gets called out for them.
Vikings get off to sharp start and Brady praises Sam Darnold
The Vikings have been one of the great stories in the NFL this season, taking a 13-2 record into this confrontation with the 11-4 Packers.
After the Packers broke out on top with a field goal, the Vikings appeared to take control of the game throughout the rest of the first half. Quarterback Sam Darnold threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Nailor and the Vikings added a pair of field goals from rookie Will Reichard to take a 13-3 lead at halftime against their archrivals.
Brady was consistent in his praise for Darnold's calmness under pressure, his decision making and his leadership of the Vikings.
However, after the Vikings added a third-quarter touchdown on an 18-yard pass from Darnold to Jordan Addison, the quarterback threw an interception to Packers cornerback Carrington Valentine. Brady criticized Darnold, saying that was not a throw he could make at that point in the game.
The Packers took advantage of the that play as they scored a touchdown on a 2-yard TD run by Josh Jacobs to cut the deficit to 20-10.
While it appeared the Packers were back in the game, Darnold responded well. He led the Vikings on an 8-play, 70-yard drive that concluded with a 9-yard TD pass from Darnold to running back Cam Akers. That allowed the Vikings to take a 27-10 lead into the fourth quarter of the crucial game.
