Tom Brady Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

After legendary quarterback Tom Brady left the New England Patriots, he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he ultimately finished his career. But it sounds like he very nearly signed with a different team instead.

During Sunday’s Fox broadcast of the showdown between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Philadelphia Eagles, Tom Brady opened up about the reasons why he ultimately decided to sign with Tampa Bay over some other teams.

“There was a lot of reasons to choose Tampa, and I made about 18 criteria why, and there was things all the way from salary, obviously, to the weather to the facilities to how great the players were,” Brady said.

He also admitted that he was “seriously considering” signing with the Chicago Bears.

“Ultimately, Chicago was a team, and I’ve never told that story before, they were very stealth in their recruitment. I was seriously considering them.”

Obviously, we don’t know how Brady’s career would have played out had he decided to finish his career in Chicago, but it’s certainly interesting to think about.

As it played out, though, Brady was able to win one more Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and cement himself as the greatest quarterback of all time.

But that doesn’t mean Bears fans won’t be wondering “what if?”

[Yahoo Sports]