Tom Brady announced his retirement yesterday, one year after he announced his retirement the first time. In the intervening year, he lost his marriage to supermodel Gisele Bündchen and had his first losing season as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterback, walking off the field for the last time with an 8-9 record after losing to the Dallas Cowboys 31-14 in a first-round playoff game.

Losing is not something Tom Brady is used to.

Brady is greatly admired for his commitment to and longevity in the NFL, with 23 seasons, 35 wins out of 48 postseason appearances, and seven Super Bowl victories in ten appearances—more than any single NFL franchise owns. According to Buccaneers.com, Brady also ranks first in:

• Wins: 251
• Pro Bowls: 15
• Super Bowl MVP Awards: 5
• Completions: 7,753
• Attempts: 12,050
• Passing Yards: 89,214
• Passing Touchdowns: 649

… and in the postseason, he leads in:

• Appearances (season): 20
• Games Started: 48
• Wins: 35
• Super Bowl Appearances: 10
• Super Bowl Wins: 7
• Completions: 1,200
• Passing Yards: 13,400
• Passing Touchdowns: 88
• Game-Winning Drives: 14
• Fourth-Quarter Comebacks: 9

The man was chosen in the sixth round at #199 by the New England Patriots in the 2000 NFL Draft. He looked and ran terrible at the NFL Combine. Yet, he turns out to be the most prolific passer in NFL history with over 100,000 yards in combined regular season and postseason, and he did it over 23 years in a league where the average “career” for a player is 3.3 years and the average for a quarterback is 4.4 years. The sport is that demanding.

Also, did you know that he was selected by the Montreal Expos in the 18th round of the 1995 Major League Baseball Draft?

And if all that weren’t enough, he signed a ten-year $375 million dollar contract to be in the Fox broadcast booth for top NFL games when he’s ready.

The man has had it all, with more to come. The G.O.A.T., handsome, married to a phenomenally successful model, three kids and a shoo-in for the NFL Hall of Fame.

And he had all that before the start of his last season. I can’t help but squirm when I think that he put football ahead of his marriage and family, and all for what, exactly? Another 4,000 yards passing? Another 490 completions? Another 25 touchdown passes? A losing season? A traumatized psyche?

Well, woo-hoo.

It just seems incredibly myopic.

But I don’t know TB12 or his family or what led to the divorce, although the press seems to think it was that Brady unretired last year and Gisele had finally had enough. It was tragic, I thought at the time, and still think that today. He had a life that looked, from an outsider’s view, “perfect.”

If he and she had a relationship with Christ, maybe it would be different. Marriage is difficult but we’re told:

To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. (1 Corinthians 7:10-11)

I have no personal investment in Brady’s life, but I’d love to see a reconciliation with Gisele and their kids.

For Tom’s sake, and for theirs.