Despair.
Gronkowski stared lifelessly at the locker room assistant. Losing the game was bad enough, but at least the season was finally over. The Pro Bowl was coming up, but that didn't matter—vacation had begun.
And yet, just like that, it was all taken away.
The locker room assistant had no clue about the suffocating tension around him, but he knew the news on social media wasn't friendly. He hesitated.
But this was Brady. Could he refuse?
No.
Brady took the phone, and he didn't even need to search—his entire timeline was flooded with news about the AFC Divisional game.
"Lance: The Patriots played a perfect game, but the Chiefs won."
"Smith's Hail Mary, Lance's one-handed catch—Chiefs end the Patriots' six-year AFC Championship streak."
"'That Catch' steals an epic win at Gillette Stadium."
"Brady: We lost, and Lance was outstanding."
"Sweeping Brady—'Rookie vs. GOAT,' Lance leads 2-0, the rise of Brady's new lifelong rival!"
"Losing to a rookie twice—is the NFL moving from the Brady era to the Lance era?"
One headline after another, each more outrageous than the last.
Brady wasn't some wide-eyed rookie. He knew exactly how the media worked and had mentally prepared himself. But their shamelessness still stunned him, veins bulging as his anger flared.
Had these reporters lost their minds?
It was two games. Was this really necessary?
Every time, it was "the end of an era" or "welcoming a new king." Let the Chiefs actually win a Super Bowl before running their mouths—otherwise, if they choked next game, it'd be the joke of the century.
And every single headline focused solely on Lance's victory. Not one mentioned the Chiefs only won by a single point. Not one. Every article twisted the narrative, emphasizing Lance beating Brady.
Brady immediately knew who was behind this.
Goodell.
"Brady vs. Manning,""Brees and Rodgers as elite QBs,""Eli Manning: The Brady Killer"— all part of Goodell's playbook. Now, it was just happening with a new rookie. Brady was being used as a stepping stone again to create the league's next star.
Brady clenched his fists so tightly his entire body trembled. His arm, his jaw—both shaking uncontrollably.
Gronkowski nervously watched Brady—was this guy about to smash his own head open? That would make one hell of a mess. Bloodstains were not easy to clean.
Brady took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm. Then, he looked up at the locker room.
His voice was tight, like nails scraping across a chalkboard.
"Tomorrow. Be at the training facility."
Gronkowski: Sh*t.
So much for vacation. They were about to suffer.
The locker room went dead silent. No one spoke. It was like a funeral.
Brady's voice rose. "What? You don't want to?"
Instantly, every player shook their heads. No, no, absolutely not!
Brady nodded in satisfaction.
"I know. The break is coming up. You're all restless. But the Pro Bowl is still ahead. Until that's over, the season isn't officially over."
"Tomorrow, we're reviewing the game. We need to see what went wrong in the second half."
Gronkowski couldn't help himself. "Tom, us single guys don't care, but are you sure Gisele and the kids will be fine with this?"
Gisele Bündchen—Brady's wife. The highest-paid supermodel in the world for 15 years straight. Still one of the industry's biggest names.
Brady hesitated, his expression flickering. But he waved it off. "She'll understand. We all have to make sacrifices for the team."
The other players: …Yeah, we don't want to make sacrifices, though.
Brady didn't care. "It's settled. Tomorrow morning, 8:30 AM. I know there's no game next week, so I'm pushing practice back thirty whole minutes. I don't want anyone late."
Gronkowski: Wow. Thirty whole minutes. So generous.
Around the locker room, players shot desperate looks at Gronkowski, hoping he'd save them.
But Gronkowski ignored them. He knew there was no stopping this now. The last thing he wanted was to piss off Brady after a loss.
Just then, Belichick walked in. He saw Brady toss the phone back to the locker room assistant. The screen flashed with the endless stream of social media posts.
Belichick didn't even need to read them to know what they said.
But his thoughts weren't on Brady. They were on #23 of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Belichick had never underestimated running backs. He valued special teams. He knew the importance of a ground game.
But in football, true game-changers were usually QBs, linebackers, defensive ends—maybe a wide receiver or a tight end.
Running backs?
That era was over.
But now?
Lance was changing the game.
Belichick thought of Adrian Peterson. But could Lance go even further?
In 2012, Peterson won MVP—but the Vikings lost in the Wild Card round to the Packers.
Lance and the Chiefs? They were going to the AFC Championship.
Maybe it was time to start taking Lance's impact seriously. Belichick had a feeling—next season, the Chiefs weren't going to disappear. They'd only get stronger.
Lance had no idea that the most dominant coach of the past 15 years had just locked onto him as his next target.
While others were still watching, Belichick had already started planning.
Meanwhile, the rest of the league wasn't thinking about the future yet. The 2017 season wasn't over.
But no matter where they looked, they couldn't escape the topic of Lance.
Even the other Wild Card games were being overshadowed by Lance's performance.
The next day, the final two Wild Card matchups took place.
The most anticipated?
The Jacksonville Jaguars vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Just like the Chiefs-Patriots game, it was new blood vs. an old dynasty. The winner would face Kansas City for the AFC Championship.
After the Chiefs' dramatic win, the media was electric.
If Pittsburgh won?
That would mean Kansas City had to face both the Patriots and the Steelers—AFC's No. 1 and No. 2 seeds.
Both teams had lost to the Chiefs in the regular season, but now they had a chance for revenge.
The narratives were already being written.
This could be legendary.
The Jaguars: ??? Uh, does no one care that we exist?
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Powerstones?
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