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It’s been brewing all season, and it’s here.

Chatter has abounded in the locker room about what Coach Thompson is going to do at the end of this season, and we have one more playoff game—the conference championship—before we’ll either play for the title or we’ll hang it up until next summer.

As we’ve edged toward the end of the season, the media has gotten more aggressive with their line of questioning. Coach always answers the same way. “Right now we’re focused on winning games.”

And we are.

We’ve only lost one game this entire season, and we’ve been picked as the favorites to win the big game.

My gut tells me that if we win it all, Coach will go out on a high note.

And I’m starting to wonder who will go out on that same high with him.

We’re moving in on the next generation of players. Will Jack Dalton hang it up? Josh Nolan? Ben Olson?

Josh was out four games this season with a hamstring injury, and I got to step in and prove myself during his absence.

I started nine of the fourteen games I was able to play during the regular season, and so far I’ve started in the playoffs as well.

But I have no idea what anyone’s plans are beyond these next two games, and the thought of winning it all and then playing with an entirely different team and coaching staff next season is daunting to say the least.

A new head coach could mean another new playbook.

I don’t want to learn another new playbook. I just learned this one.

But it’s my job, and I’ll do it if it comes down to that. Victoria and I have talked at length about that, too. It’ll be my job for a long time to come. I hope I can continue playing in Vegas, but if I have to move, then we move. I love playing this game that has given so much to me, and Victoria loves watching me play. She loves being a football wife. She loves working part-time with Ellie, and she loves running her bookstore without having to do much of the management.

I listen to my pregame playlist, now largely made up of Imagine Dragons songs. I do my warm-ups. Coach goes over the game plan.

Teams are introduced. The National Anthem plays. The coin is tossed.

The game starts, and I’m on the field. Jack drops back to pass, and I run a deep route down the field. Marcus Hanson is blocking me, but I shift to my right as the ball drops into my hands. I grapple with it a little, and my heart races as I nearly fumble it, but I pull it into my chest and run it over the line into the end zone.

The crowd goes wild.

I go wild.

I know my girls are out there going wild.

They’re who I think of the moment I score, just as they have been every time I’ve crossed into the end zone this season.

For the first time in my life, something comes before football.

My family.

I never had a family like this. I never felt unconditionally loved. I never felt loved at all except for what I could do on the football field, and having Harper and Hartley in my life has made every victory all the sweeter.

I find them up in the crowd and give them a wave, and they’re screaming and blowing me kisses.

My heart is so damn full.

We coast to a victory, and then we have two weeks to prepare for the Super Bowl.

During that time, we rest. We get treatment. We get massages. We get lots of sleep. We practice, and we start to prepare mentally. We stay calm and focused, and we try to enjoy ourselves.

I enjoy my wife’s body more than a few times, that’s for damn sure.

And suddenly I find myself in a locker room in Dallas, Texas.

That’s right…home of the Cowboys. My wife’s former favorite team. She’s all Aces now.

Everything we’ve worked for this season comes to a head today as we face off against Philadelphia for the title.

I’m nervous, but I’m also excited.

I get to play the game I love in front of the people I love, and if that’s not everything a man could ask for, what is?

Coach puts me in to start along with Tristan, Cory, and Josh.

The first play is going to me, and I make the catch. We advance a little but not enough for a first down.

New dad Jaxon Bryant carries the ball next, but Philly’s defense is strong and he’s immediately stopped. His wife and little girl Gracie are watching from the stands beside my wife and daughter.

Jack throws to Josh next, and then tries a few handoffs to Jaxon again, and we keep moving closer and closer. We get the first points on the scoreboard with a field goal, and we’re ahead. For now.

The Eagles come back with a touchdown, and by the end of the first quarter, we’re down seventeen to ten.

By the half, we’re down twenty to seventeen after Jack runs in a touchdown himself.

It’s a good game, and it’s still within our reach as we run into the locker room.

And that’s when Coach gives us the speech we need.

“We’re in this. We’re only down by three, so let’s make some adjustments and get back in front.” He goes over a few of the adjustments he’s referring to, and then he looks around the room, pausing to make eye contact with what feels like every single one of us. “Listen up. This is my last game, boys, and I’m not going out on a loss. I believe in you, and I believe in this team. Play with your heart. Play with the intensity I’ve seen from you all season. Play for your families, and play for this family. Have fun out there. Now let’s fucking go.”

The room erupts with the exact sort of intensity he’s asking us for as we all call out “Let’s fucking go!” in response.

And then we fucking go.

We play with passion, and a couple minutes into the second half, we’re tied.

We focus, and then we pull ahead.

Our defense is solid as they hold the Eagles to twenty through the third quarter, and Jack is on point as he threads needle after needle with perfect passes.

By the start of the fourth quarter, we’re up by ten, but we don’t settle into contentment. Instead, we play hard.

The Eagles play hard, too, and they score another touchdown.

We’re only up by three when the Eagles defense puts the pressure on Jack. In an attempt to throw the ball away, he tosses it right into the arms of a waiting defender, who runs it in for a touchdown just before the two-minute warning.

They score the extra point, which puts us down by four.

We need a touchdown to win.

The stadium roars as we receive the kickoff, a fair catch to put us at the twenty-yard line. We have eighty yards to go.

We can do this.

I look up into the crowd and see Victoria biting her nails. I see Harper screaming.

My body tenses in anticipation as the crowds chanting rings in my ears, but I block out the noise to focus.

Jack shakes off the mistake as we step up to the line of scrimmage, and he yells out the play call. This one’s for Jaxon, who takes it seventeen yards downfield.

We run the same play, and we grab another first down.

We’re in Eagle territory now, and we move a little closer.

Twelve seconds on the clock.

We can maybe get off two plays if we’re quick, but then I hear the play call.

“Eagle Nine!”

Eagle ...Victoria’s hand.

Nine.

Eight plus one is nine. That’s me. Eighty-one.

I take off running the second the ball is snapped, dodging defenders as I move left and right through them. I find a place where I can open myself up, and I turn around to see the ball flying toward me.

It feels like slow motion as it falls into my arms, and then I turn to run. I see a clear path to the end zone except for one last defender standing in my way.

I run right for him, and he’s a big dude about to block the hell out of me. I get as close as I can then spin to my left, falling over the goal line for the touchdown.

The crowd goes wild again, and I’m screaming incoherently in victory. But we still have three seconds left on the clock after we score the extra point, so we’re not in the clear yet.

I stand nervously on the sidelines as Declan, our punter, kicks the ball. It goes deep but doesn’t hit the end zone, and I yell as it’s the perfect kick to set us up for victory.

The kick returner on the Eagles catches the ball and starts running like hell, but he’s no match for Evan Wilkinson, who takes him down just after time runs out on the clock, the final play sealing us as the champions.

We all yell as we run out onto the field, jumping in celebration and hugging each other. Adrenaline pumps through me as we all congratulate each other on our victory.

It’s my first ring.

My first championship.

And my family was here to see me win.