Tom Brady is, without question, the greatest quarterback to ever play American football. I've never rooted for the teams he's played for (Go Seahawks!) so it pains me to say it, but the guy truly is the G.O.A.T.

The man is 44 years old, has played in the NFL for 22 years and is the winningest player the game has ever known. So when he announced his retirement from professional football on February 1, it was truly momentous. The end of an era. A new beginning, not just for him but for football fans everywhere who either reveled in or grumbled about his consistent dominance in the sport.

The only thing Brady didn't do was go out on top—at least not in the immediate sense. The most fitting retirement for Tom Brady would be to win the Super Bowl one last time, then hang up his cleats. Instead, he staged one of his epic comebacks in the divisional round playoffs, leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from a 27-3 deficit to a 27-27 tie before ultimately losing in the last second of the game to a Los Angeles Rams field goal.

That's a tough loss in general, but especially as the last game of your career. Perhaps that's what compelled Brady to change his mind and unretire just 40 days after announcing his retirement.

But according to the jokesters on social media, his comeback has more to do with the realities of full-time parenting than with tying up his loose competitive ends.

Brady and his wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen, have two school-aged kids and Brady also shares custody of his teen son from his earlier relationship with model and actress Bridget Moynahan. Brady has mentioned in interviews that it's difficult to balance his professional life and his home life, though he tries hard to be a present, involved parent.

The guy clearly loves his family, but the fact that he changed his mind about retiring barely a month after being home full-time was too much for the internet to resist.