Tom Brady will retire after Super Bowl LII if Gisele had her way

New England Patriots star Tom Brady, widely regarded as the greatest quarterback in NFL history, is on the cusp of a record sixth Super Bowl title. And while Brady has no intention to retire, the 40-year-old football icon could give in to wife Gisele Bundchen's wishes.

Last year, Brady revealed that Bundchen wanted her husband to hang up the boots after the Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons at Super Bowl LI. After trailing by as many 25 points in the third quarter, Brady led the Patriots to a miraculous 34-28 victory over the Falcons in overtime. It was the largest comeback in Super Bowl history and perhaps a fitting stage for Brady to call it quits.

“If it was up to my wife, she would have me retire today. She told me that last night three times. And I said, ‘Too bad, babe, I’m having too much fun right now.’ You know, I feel like I can still do it. If you love what you do and you’re capable of doing it, then I might be so bored if I wasn’t going out there knowing that I could still do it. So I’m going to work hard to be ready to go, and I still plan on playing for a long time," Brady told Sirius/XM radio in an interview after winning his fifth Super Bowl title.

A year later, Brady has the opportunity to cement himself as the indisputable greatest of all time when he leads the Patriots into Super Bowl LII against Doug Pederson's young Philadelphia Eagles team at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday (Monday AEDT). The Patriots are overwhelming favourites to win their sixth Super Bowl title in the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era.

Tom Brady retirement still on the cards?

Jay Feely, a close friend of Brady from their college days at Michigan, recently told Sports Illustrated that Bundchen is not done campaigning for Tom Brady's retirement. After the Patriots beat the Jacksonville Jaguars to win the AFC championship, NFL insider Greg Bishop gave insight into Bundchen's thought process.

"Last spring Brady and his family vacationed with retired kicker Jay Feely. This being Brady, Feely prefers not to disclose the locale, but he does share that Brady’s wife, the supermodel Gisele Bündchen, spent time on that trip 'trying to get me to convince (Tom) to stop playing.'” Added Feely: “she was dead serious.”

Feely said he looked at his friend and told him, “Play as long as you can.” Brady smiled back and winked.

“For years he wanted to prove he belonged in this league. He won three Super Bowls and still used perceived slights to motivate himself. And he’s still finding ways to motivate himself," Feely added.

Tom Brady led New England to a 24-20 win over the red-hot Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium on Jan. 21. It was the 54th time Brady engineered a late game-winning play to lead the Patriots to a victory from a fourth-quarter deficit.

When is Super Bowl 52?

Super Bowl LII will be staged on Sunday, Feb. 4 starting 6:30 p.m. ET (10:30 a.m. Tuesday AEDT). According to Vegas oddsmakers, Philadelphia is the biggest Super Bowl underdog since the Arizona Cardinals in 2009. At Super Bowl 43, the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled off a thrilling 27-23 win over the Cardinals.