Brady's Back: Will 49ers vs. Lions Be Fox's Last Broadcast Without Patriots Legend?

Sunday's game between the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions is set to be the last Fox broadcast before Tom Brady joins Kevin Burkhardt to form a new No. 1 broadcast team next season.

Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will return to our television screens next season. But it won't be because he is coming out of retirement for a second time. Rather, after a year away from football, Brady will take his place on the Fox broadcast team next season. 

As announced two years ago, Brady is set to begin his new career in the broadcast booth alongside current play-by-play commentator Kevin Burkhardt to form Fox's No. 1 commentary duo. 

This means Sunday's NFC Championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions will end an era, if you will. If the plan happens as originally intended, it will be the last time Burkhardt and Greg Olsen call a game together, as the latter is presumptively set to move to their No. 2 team. 

Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (left) and Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen (right) / Clutchpoints

However, we can't say definitively that it will be the last time that Burkhardt and Olsen call a game together because of how the acclaimed duo has performed. After losing Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to ESPN's Monday Night Football in 2022, Burkhardt and Olsen made the transition of announcers seamless on Fox's "America's Game of the Week." 

If Fox doesn't want to risk breaking up their current announcing duo for Brady, then as our Sports Illustrated counterparts suggested, they could easily add the legendary quarterback to make their No. 1 broadcast a trio in the booth. 

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Forming a three-person commentary team may be the most crowd-pleasing option, as it'd allow Olsen to continue his work with Burkhardt while also adding Brady to the mix, who will undoubtedly only add to the level of analysis given each weekend. 

However, either way, one thing is clear: Fox will become the home to the proverbial "Dream Team" of former Patriots-turned-broadcasters as they'll have Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, and Brady, all part of their gameday coverage.