By JOEY JOHNSTON

Tribune Staff Writer

(c) Tampa Bay Times. Originally published Feb. 5, 2002.

NEW ORLEANS – It was the perfect ending for a perfectly improbable story.

There was bleary-eyed New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, shaking hands with NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, and accepting the Most Valuable Player award for Super Bowl XXXVI on Monday morning.

There were Brady’s parents in the back of the room, holding hands, smiling and blinking back tears as their son held court for the national media.

But most of all, there was Brady’s team, waking up and realizing it was not a dream.

This was reality. The Patriots had indeed beaten the heavily favored St. Louis Rams 20-17, setting off a wild celebration when Adam Vinatieri’s final-play 48-yard field goal fluttered through the uprights.

They rallied behind a quarterback who was a fourth-stringer last year, a sixth-round pick who threw just three passes during the 2000 season.

“To see him enjoy the success he has is just indescribable for us,” said Brady’s father, Tom Sr. “None of it has come easy. He always had to fight back and prove himself.

“We’ve just been giddy. Every time something new happens, we just say, “Thank you God.’ There aren’t enough adjectives to describe what I’m feeling in my heart.”

Brady, the youngest QB (age 24) ever to win a Super Bowl, displayed playfulness on the morning after.

“There might be some time sitting on the beach this week where I can think about it all … with a piña colada,” he said.

Brady was 16 of 27 for 145 yards and one touchdown, but the payoff came on the final 53-yard drive. Out of timeouts and backed to their 17-yard line with 1:21 remaining, the Patriots seemed headed for overtime. Even Fox announcer John Madden said that was the proper strategy.

The Patriots had other ideas. Brady completed five of seven passes – along with a clock-killing spike – and his receivers twice conserved time by squirming out of bounds. There were seven seconds remaining when Vinatieri lined up for the game-winner.

Now that’s efficiency.

“It’s not about what I’m capable of,” said Brady, who took over after an early season injury to $103 million man Drew Bledsoe. “It’s about what we’re capable of as a team and an offense.”

Brady, who makes $289,000, is firmly established now as New England’s starter. The Patriots are expected to part with Bledsoe, who has been linked to Steve Spurrier’s Washington Redskins or the Chicago Bears.

Life may never be the same for Brady. It already has changed. The MVP award is coupled with a 2002 Cadillac Escalade. Brady has been driving a Dodge Ram pickup.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Brady was the most improved player at his position during off-season workouts. The perk was a preferred parking space at training camp.

“Tom has this kind of canary yellow car that somebody gave him a deal on,” Belichick said. “It was pretty noticeable what he was driving. I think he’s really upgraded.”

Tom Brady, now the Cadillac of NFL quarterbacks? What a perfect ending for a perfectly improbable story.