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If Tyler Johnson never again basks in the national spotlight, he will always have Lambeau Field and the night of the elastic jersey.
The former Gophers and Minneapolis North High star made one catch Sunday. His biggest contribution was being once caught.
Tampa Bay held a 31-26 lead over Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game at Lambeau. The Buccaneers faced third-and-4 with less than two minutes remaining. Johnson ran a down-and-in, heading toward open field. Brady led him with a pass. Packers cornerback Kevin King grabbed the bottom of Johnson's jersey, stretching it like cellophane, forcing a reticent officiating crew to call pass interference.
That call helped the Bucs run out the clock, advancing to the Super Bowl and leaving the Packers to regret a stunning series of mistakes and misjudgments.
You can see Johnson attending autograph sessions in his old age, signing his name at the bottom of the back of his old Bucs jerseys, and maybe tracing an outline of King's hand.
Thanks in part to Johnson, Super Bowl LV will feature Tampa Bay's Tom Brady against Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes. the GOAT vs. the Kid.
GOAT stands for "Greatest of All Time," an acronym used frequently on Sunday. Sadly, the day provided the latest reminder that excellent coaches can look silly in the spotlight.
Packers coach Matt LaFleur and defensive coordinator Mike Pettine were good enough to get their team to 13-3 and the title game in consecutive seasons, and yet they coached in this game in a way that would have gotten them fired from a fantasy league.
Pettine's defense gave Brady a free touchdown by not covering Scotty Miller on a deep route at the end of the first half, and LaFleur made a series of mistakes in the second half to allow Brady to survive throwing three second-half interceptions.
LaFleur went for a two-point conversion late in the third quarter, and the failed attempt meant that the Packers would trail by eight instead of seven in the final minute.
Aaron Rodgers made his own mistake, trying a difficult, across-the-body throw to well-covered receiver Davante Adams in the end zone when it appeared Rodgers could have either run for a touchdown or set up a short fourth-and-goal play.
Then LaFleur decided to kick a field goal to cut the Bucs' lead to five, instead of having his Hall of Fame quarterback try for a touchdown. The Packers would never get the ball back.
According to the Associated Press, the Packers were the first team to attempt a field goal when trailing by four to eight points in the final three minutes of a game since the Falcons did it in a 17-16 loss to the 49ers in 2015.
What began as an epic battle of all-time great quarterbacks devolved into a comedy of errors.
After the game, Rodgers said he felt "gutted." He has now won as many NFC title games as Brady, who is 1-for-1.
Brady has burnished his credentials as the best quarterback in NFL history, or at least the most accomplished, but he wasn't anywhere close to the best quarterback playing on Sunday.
That was Mahomes, who became the youngest quarterback ever to play in three consecutive conference title games and the youngest ever to reach two Super Bowls. He won't turn 26 until the 2021 season starts.
Someday, there may be a debate over whether Brady or Mahomes is the greatest quarterback ever, and the tiebreaker could be contested on Feb. 7 in Tampa.
In 2017, the Vikings had a chance to become the first team ever to play in its home stadium in the Super Bowl. Instead, Brady and his adopted Bucs will enjoy the honor.
Despite Brady's résumé, I'll take Mahomes as the better quarterback right now, the quarterback who will win this Super Bowl, and the quarterback who, if he remains relatively healthy, will eventually prove himself to be even better than Brady.
You've got to be a kid before you can become a goat.