Tom Brady has won an NFL record 261 regular-season and postseason games. Drew Brees has won 181 regular-season and postseason games, in fourth place all-time behind Peyton Manning (200) and Brett Favre (199).

Brady and Brees have spent their Hall of Fame football lifetimes with the mindset that the next game is the most important game, so no one can underestimate what win No. 262 would mean to Brady or what win No. 182 would mean to Brees when the Buccaneers and Saints collide at the Superdome on Sunday for the right to reach the NFC Championship game and pull to within 60 minutes of Super Bowl LV.

Brees has never stood in Brady’s path to the Lombardi Trophy.

Brady has never stood in Brees’ path to the Lombardi Trophy.

Until now.

The GOAT versus the GEAUXT.

For the 42-year-old Brees, whose birthday was Friday and who is expected to retire at the end of this season, his 20th, this last hurrah marks his last quest to scratch an 11-year itch and win that elusive second Super Bowl.

For the 43-year-old Brady, this is the next critical step toward his seventh Super Bowl championship, and his first without Bill Belichick at his side.

It is the oldest quarterback showdown the NFL has ever given us.

A game for the ages or a game for the aged, take your pick.

Two men enter. One man leaves (“Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome”).

Brees and coach Sean Payton have been together for 15 seasons.

Brady and coach Bruce Arians have been together for one season. This season.

We have marveled over the genius of Brady and Brees over the years, the both of them embarking on a wondrous journey that no one, not even themselves, could have seen coming.

No one, when Brady was the skinny sixth-round draft pick out of Michigan, could have envisioned him winning one Super Bowl, much less winning four to tie his idol, Joe Montana, much less winning a record six.

No one, even after Brees entered the league with the Chargers as a 6-foot quarterback, could have envisioned him on such a fast lane direct to Canton following a 360-degree labrum and partial rotator cuff repair by Dr. James Andrews after the 2005 season. When the Nick Saban Dolphins opted to cast their lot with Daunte Culpepper, Brees signed a six-year, $60 million free-agent contract with the Saints.

“From the very beginning, there was a genuine feeling that they wanted me there,” Brees said at the time. “They believe I can come back from this shoulder injury and lead them to a championship. They were as confident as I am, and that meant a lot.”

They were right, of course. Brees, four years later, became a beacon of light and hope for a Katrina-ravaged city that desperately needed healing, with his Super Bowl XLIV victory over Manning and the Colts. Brady had already won three Super Bowls.

Brady’s six Super Bowl championships and status as co-architect of the Patriots dynasty is the cherry on top that stamps him as the GOAT, though the number of Super Bowl championships in and of themselves does not define a quarterback’s legacy. To wit: Dan Marino, who has no rings.

Brees, the all-time leader in passing yards (80,358) and completions (7,142), has for the past five seasons boasted a completion percentage of 70 or higher. Former quarterback Trent Dilfer was talking recently about Brady’s “relentless pursuit of greatness” in the Los Angeles Times, but he could have been talking about Brees as well. They live in a rare stratosphere where great is not good enough.

Brady is a mechanical Iron Mike, even now, and Brees, even with his fading arm strength, remains efficient and deadly accurate. More than most quarterbacks, they are coaches in the field, and they are great leaders, and they simply know how to play the game.

Brees is 5-2 against Brady. That means nothing now. Brees is 2-0 this season against Brady. That means nothing now. For 42-year-old Drew Brees, and for 43-year-old Tom Brady, only this one game matters now.