Three teams enter NFL Week 7 with an undefeated record. Of the Minnesota Vikings, Kansas City Chiefs, and San Francisco 49ers, only the latter is 6-0. The other two have already enjoyed their bye weeks.
Meanwhile, just because the teams haven’t lost a game yet, it doesn’t mean that they’re flawless or indestructible. Just ask Tom Brady, whose New England Patriots once went 16-0 in 2007, but still lost in the Super Bowl. Now, the seven-time Super Bowl champion has some advice to share for the trio of remaining undefeated teams.
Tom Brady Sends Cautionary Tale to NFL’s Undefeated Teams
Brady’s been there before, reaching the sport’s pinnacle several times. But he also knows that a hot start doesn’t mean squat, because they still have to finish strong. As Brady knows, what’s important is winning the next game, not what happened last week or in the season so far.
“It’s called humility and self-awareness,” Brady said when asked how teams can keep a strong start from turning into “rat poison.”
“You’re never as good as you think, and you’re never as bad as you think,” Brady added. “In all these games you’re winning, you better be correcting the problems. Because every team is now looking back at all the film study from the year, and they’re gonna try to get you to play to your weakness.”
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Brady added that teams will try to take away an offense’s best weapons, essentially forcing them to play what he calls “left-handed.”
“You may not notice it against an average team, but when you go against the best teams, they’re always gonna make you play left-handed,” Brady explained. “So you gotta make sure you get those all corrected before the tough games get going here in December and January.”
Having started an NFL-high 333 games for a quarterback, often for one of the league’s best teams, Brady has had to play a lot of games “left-handed,” as he calls it. Learning how to navigate those challenges will be paramount to the remaining undefeated teams’ success.
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Yet, Brady believes the team(s) that handle those hurdles the best may be the one that prevails in the end. History suggests that the Chiefs, who rank fourth on PFN’s Team Impact Rankings, are led by Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, who have won three Super Bowls together, and are fully capable of leading the charge.
The 49ers, led by Kyle Shanahan, who has two Super Bowl appearances, may be equipped too.
Heck, even Kevin O’Connell has won a Super Bowl during his time as the Los Angeles Rams’ offensive coordinator. With a common theme among the three remaining undefeated teams, perhaps these groups have something special about them, making the rest of the season must-see TV.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.