Will Tom Brady still be with the Buccaneers?
4:15
(CNN) --
Tom Brady may not get his eighth Super Bowl ring this season, but will he get another chance?
Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers were a victim of what has been called the greatest football weekend in NFL history, falling agonizingly on a 24-point second-half comeback against the Los Angeles Rams in one of four impressive playoff games from the divisional rounds.
The Buccaneers were eliminated and Antonio Brown made fun of his former team
Questions about the 44-year-old's future began the moment he walked off the field, with quarterback Brady saying he "hadn't given it much thought."
"We will take it one day at a time and see where we are," he added.
Having faced the annual postseason questions about his retirement plans for years, Brady is no stranger to taking it slow about ending his 22-season run, however, appearing on the "SiriusXM Let's Go!"
On Monday, the quarterback spoke at length about his thought process for the future.
Although he reiterated his desire not to "rush" into any decision, Brady said his wife, Gisele Bündchen, and their children would be at the center of any choice he made.
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"The biggest difference now that I'm older is that I have kids now, too, and I care about them a lot, too," Brady told Jim Gray.
"They have been my biggest support. My wife is my biggest support, it hurts her to see me beat up out there."
"She deserves what she needs from me as a husband and my children deserve what they need from me as a father."
Brady pitches against the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC divisional playoff game on Sunday.
Family is first
Despite a heartbreaking ending, it was another excellent season for the ever-jovial Brady, who threw for a career- and NFL-best 5,316 yards to pass the 5,000-yard mark for the second time in his career.
He also led the NFL in regular season touchdown passes with 43, and finished second to only the Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers in the quarterback rating, with a score of 68.1.
However, Brady stated that a season like this would not have been possible without his family.
"I'm going to spend some time with them and give them what they need, because they've really been giving me what I need for the last six months to do what I love to do," Brady said.
"I said this a few years ago, it's what relationships are about. It's not always what I want, it's what we want as a family. I'm going to spend a lot of time with them and figure out what's next for the future."
"Playing football gives me a lot of joy, I love it. But not playing football, there is also a lot of joy in that for me now, now that my children are older, seeing them develop and grow."
Brady and Bündchen attend the 2019 Met Gala.
"Championship Level"
After spending 20 years and winning six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, establishing a dominant dynasty under coach Bill Belichick, Brady signed with the Buccaneers in 2020.
He subsequently claimed his seventh Super Bowl ring in his first season in Florida, emphatically shutting down another year of accusations that he was "done" -- claims dating back to 2015.
Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski and Brady celebrate after their Super Bowl 55 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, 2021.
Retirement will come when Brady himself knows he can no longer play at that "champion level."
"Every year I just have to make sure I have the ability to commit to what the team really needs, that's really important to me," Brady said.
"The team deserves nothing less than my best. If I feel like I'm not committed to that, or that I can't play at a championship level, then you have to give somebody else a chance to play."
"We'll see. There's a lot of time between now and the start of the next football season. I have to figure those things out, which probably comes naturally to anyone."
Tom Brady
