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Tom Brady's giant coat is heading back to the Super Bowl

Blake Bortles and his awesomely alliterative name had no shot against Brady and his hand full of rings.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
2 min read

To probably no one's surprise, the New England Patriots are headed back to the Super Bowl, beating the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday 24-21. And since the game's in chilly Minnesota (though at indoor US Bank Stadium), quarterback Tom Brady better pack his enormous coat.

The AFC championship game played on Sunday saw the return of Brady's infamous gigantic puffy jacket, though at first fans thought it might not show up.

Sunday's two NFL conference championship games feature three no-name quarterbacks and Brady (and I say this as a lifelong fan of one of the no-name quarterback teams).

Blake Bortles. Nick Foles. Case Keenum. And then there's Brady, with his seven Super Bowl appearances and five wins.

There was a sense that perhaps most of the country was rooting for the underdog Jags.

Except maybe the refs.

From the second Brady jogged out onto the field and told a camera operator to get "f@#! out the way," fans were watching him closely.

Brady's injured hand was the topic of much concern, though really, it looked just fine.

Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles played a solid first half, but fans were all about his alliterative name.

As for the game itself, the Jaguars looked for a while as if they could dethrone the Pats, but then reality -- and Brady -- set in.

But not everyone was on board with the Patriots' constant success.

Super Bowl LII will be played Feb. 4 in Minneapolis.

First published Jan. 21, 1:53 p.m. PT.
Update, 3:07 p.m.: Adds updated memes at halftime.