Tom Brady cements legacy with 4th Super Bowl win

The New England Patriots are your Super Bowl 49 champions, beating the Seattle Seahawks, 28-24. With the victory, the combination of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick added a fourth Lombardi Trophy to their legacy, finally building on the third that was secured just about a decade ago.

The legacy of Brady cannot be in doubt at this point. There's been talk about him being one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game in recent years, and over the past two weeks, there has been a massive debate as to whether he is the de-facto best. The man who many think has the most legitimate claim to oppose him is San Francisco 49ers great Joe Montana.

With his fourth Super Bowl ring, Brady now ties Montana for one of his biggest claims to fame. It took Brady a lot longer, given that Montana won all four of the Super Bowls he's appeared in, but he joins Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks to win four Super Bowls.

On top of that, Brady was also named the MVP of the game, after completing 37 of 50 passes for 326 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. That marks his third Super Bowl MVP trophy, moving into a tie with Montana for the most of all time.

During the game, Brady broke one of Montana's records with his third touchdown pass of the day -- putting him at 12 total over the Super Bowls he's played in. He then went on to add a 13th to give the Patriots the lead and the eventual win. Montana held the previous record at 11, though he did it in four games. Brady also broke the Super Bowl record for completions and became the first quarterback to throw a touchdown pass to four different players in a Super Bowl.

Brady became the first quarterback ever to start in six Super Bowls, and was one of five players to be named Super Bowl MVP multiple times. Brady's name was already in the record books, ranking first in completions (127), yards (1,277) and attempts (197). When it comes to the postseason alone, he's led the Patriots to eight fourth-quarter/OT game-winning drives, two more than any other quarterback in league history.

Brady will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest to play the game, and now that he doesn't have Montana's records hanging over his head, he has a legitimate claim to the top spot. There will always be arguments, but Brady has done his part to legitimize his place in league history. Some could argue he did that before Sunday, and that this is just icing on the cake.