“Forget about it. It’s a done deal. Go home. Find something else to do.”

That’s probably what was being said when the Patriots fell behind 28-3 in the second half of Super Bowl LI. The thought of an unprecedented comeback — even for arguably the greatest quarterback of all-time — seemed a bit ambitious at that point.

An hour later, the same words should’ve been said.

“Forget about it. It’s a done deal. Go home. Find something else to do.”

What Tom Brady did on Sunday night to win his fifth Super Bowl was more than just a lasting moment from an incredible career. That described what Peyton Manning did in winning a Super Bowl in his final game.

Brady’s comeback should’ve ended the discussion. The former sixth-round pick out of Michigan did more than earn the right to be called greatest quarterback* of all time.

Jim Harbaugh called Brady the greatest football player of all time earlier in the week. On Sunday night, he doubled down on that claim:

That shouldn’t sound crazy anymore. Since the former Wolverine came into the NFL in 2000, he played in seven Super Bowls and won five of them. Pick any Hall of Fame player — not just quarterbacks — and Brady tops them in the most important category.

Brady now has five Super Bowl rings and four Super Bowl MVP trophies. Those are both records. Well, the five Super Bowl rings tied him with defensive end Charles Haley, who was a two-time All-Pro player, but not a Hall of Famer.

Any argument of Joe Montana having the slight edge ahead of Brady should be out the window, too. Brady passed Montana in both Super Bowl rings and Super Bowl MVPs. Montana was also 33 when he won his last Super Bowl. After the age of 33, Brady won two Super Bowls.

Oh, and there’s this:

Those are the stats that matter. Others will try and point to the fact that Brady doesn’t lead the all-time list in passing yards and touchdowns. Manning holds those marks currently. If Brady plays three more seasons — that doesn’t look crazy at all — and averages 3,453 passing yards and 29 touchdown passes, he’ll have those records, too.

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Brady’s legacy is about much more than numbers. Hundreds of millions of people watched a 39-year-old quarterback deliver the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history.

Sure, football is a team game, and many called it “an Atlanta choke.” Many argued that former Wisconsin star James White deserved Super Bowl MVP honors. Some might point to Sunday night as Belichick’s moment to show the world he was the greatest coach of all time.

All of those arguments are fair, but they shouldn’t take away from Brady’s greatness. You can hate on him for the Deflate-gate stuff, you can suspend him, you can take away his best pass-catcher and you still can’t stop him.

Not even Michael Jordan dealt with that kind of adversity during one of his championship runs.

Brady has earned the right to be dubbed the G.O.A.T. That word (it basically is a word now) gets thrown around lightly these days, but Brady showed the world once and for all that he’s the greatest ever. No football player has ever accomplished the things he has. Period.

It’ll pain many people to say this, but it needs to be said.

“Harbaugh was right.”