Tom Brady pulls off another epic comeback — and still loses

Tom Brady was down 27-3 to the Los Angeles Rams when a series of improbable events in the final minutes gave him a chance for another all-time recovery.

Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady prepares to throw against the Los Angeles Rams

Tom Brady pulled off the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history five years ago, yet somehow he was on the verge of executing something just as nutty early on Monday.

The quarterback — who once recovered from a 28-3 deficit to top the Atlanta Falcons for a title — was down 27-3 this time to the Los Angeles Rams when a series of improbable events in the final minutes gave him a chance for another all-time recovery that would advance his Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the NFC Championship.

The game got very weird very quickly.

The second half included: fumbles on back-to-back plays by both teams; three lost fumbles by the Rams; and a missed Los Angeles field goal. Somehow, the game was tied 27-27 with less than a minute to play after Brady engineered a last-minute touchdown drive.

But after getting the ball back with 42 seconds remaining, having let the game slip through their fingers, the Rams ended Brady’s season. Los Angeles prevailed 30-27 on a game-winning field goal after quarterback Matthew Stafford hit wide receiver Cooper Kupp on a 44-yard pass.

The game sent the Rams to the NFC Championship, kickstarted questions about Brady’s professional future and foiled what would have been yet another epic moment in Brady’s historic career.

When the Rams led 27-3 midway through the third quarter, the game seemed finished. The Bucs weren’t just losing or getting unlucky. They were being steamrolled. But after a Bucs field goal, the Rams fumbled and set up another Tampa Bay touchdown.

It got even stranger from there.

With the score 27-13 in the fourth quarter, Brady was sacked and fumbled. After getting the ball, the Rams’ next snap zoomed past Stafford and the Bucs recovered with a chance to score.

Then when Brady heaved an incompletion downfield on fourth down, a Rams defender was flagged for unnecessary roughness. Yet because the contact came fractions of a second after the ball hit the ground, the penalty was enforced with the Rams still taking over the football.

After Los Angeles missed a field goal on the ensuing possession, Brady had another chance. He came up short on fourth down yet again.

But every time the game appeared to get out of hand, something even more surprising would happen. Boosted by the Rams’ struggles to move the ball after they had done so seamlessly to begin the game, Brady kept getting more chances.

He didn’t waste his next one: Tampa Bay’s next possession lasted just 36 seconds and ended with a 55-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans. Brady had made the game 27-20 with 3:20 to go.

Two plays and 55 seconds later, Rams gave up their third fumble of the half — and their fourth of the game — to give the Bucs yet another opportunity when all Los Angeles had to do this entire time was burn clock. When running back Leonard Fournette punched in the next score, tying the game 27-27, the Bucs had come all the way back and the Rams looked utterly hapless.

There were just 42 seconds left and Los Angeles had spent the entire half making costly mistakes. Brady was moments away from taking the game to overtime, just as he had done against the Falcons — when he prevailed in the extra period.

That’s when Stafford hit Kupp for the completion. Stafford, the quarterback the Rams acquired from the Detroit Lions over the off-season in a blockbuster deal, exhorted his teammates to sprint down the field so they could stop the clock.

Stafford spiked it. Matt Gay kicked it through the uprights for the win. And the Rams survived Tom Brady.

The Wall Street Journal