The last time Tom Brady lost a Super Bowl, he was beaten by a team using its backup. Nick Foles rallied the Philadelphia Eagles to a win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
The two signal callers will square off for Thursday night's football game when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers travel to face the Chicago Bears. A rematch between two Super Bowl quarterbacks during regular season isn't particularly unique.
What makes Thursday night's game different is that it will be the first time in NFL history that a rematch between two opposing Super Bowl quarterbacks will take place with two separate teams.
Tom Brady spent 20 years in New England, guiding the Patriots to nine AFC Championship titles and six Super Bowl wins. Brady signed with the Buccaneers in March, and he has the team sitting at first place in the NFC South.
Foles has since moved on from Philadelphia to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and now the Chicago Bears. Foles was the backup when this season started, but the Bears have since benched starter Mitch Trubinsky in favor of Foles.
The game kicks off at 8:20 p.m. ET on Thursday from Soldier Field in Chicago. It will be broadcast on both FOX and the NFL Network.
The same quarterback who rose from backup to starter in Super Bowl LII—Nick Foles—has done the same this year before he meets Brady again.
Each team arrives at the quarter-season mark with a 3-1 record, but they got there in different ways. The Buccaneers started the season with a loss at New Orleans, but then bounced back with three-consecutive wins over Carolina, Denver and the Los Angeles Chargers.
Chicago began the season with wins over Detroit, New York Giants and Atlanta before losing their first game last week at home against the Indianapolis Colts. The Bears are one game behind the Green Bay Packers, who are just one of six NFL teams that remain undefeated after four weeks of play.
In the 2017 season, Eagles starting quarterback Carson Wentz had a season-ending injury, which thrust Foles into the lineup as a starter. The Eagles finished the regular season with a 13-3 record—same as the Patriots that year—and eventually to Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.
The Patriots entered the game as a favorite, but the gritty Eagles kept it close. The Eagles took a 10-point lead into halftime, and led by three points to start the fourth quarter.
The Patriots took a 32-33 lead after Brady connected with tight end Rob Gronkowski for a touchdown with 9:22 left in the game. Gronkowski is now in Tampa with Brady.
Late in the game, Foles mounted the biggest drive of his career, which culminated with him catching a pass from Zach Ertz. The play called "Philly Special" didn't exactly seal the 41-33 Eagles win (a field goal did), but it sealed the Super Bowl MVP for Foles.
Now, the two signal callers from that memorable game will meet in the Windy City, but this time with different uniforms and teams.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Scott McDonald is a Newsweek deputy night editor based in Cape Coral, Florida. His focus is assigning and writing stories across all topics, from news to politics, business, weather, sports and international news. Scott joined Newsweek in 2018 after a lengthy career of print journalism in Texas, including The Dallas Morning News, where he was a sportswriter, and he's a voter for the Heisman Trophy. He has been a newspaper editor-in-chief and also a newspaper publisher. He is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin. You can get in touch with Scott by emailing s.mcdonald@newsweek.com. Languages: English
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