Drew Brees Confirms He'll Return to Saints for 19th Season After Loss to Rams

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady reached the Super Bowl at age 41 with a victory Sunday, and 40-year-old Drew Brees will look to replicate that formula during the 2019 season—his 19th in the league.

"My mind's not even there right now. So this is all pretty fresh," Brees said when asked about whether he will return next season following the New Orleans Saints' 26-23 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Sunday's NFC Championship Game, per Mike Triplett of ESPN.com. "But [I'm] just going to take a few days to kind of let it all settle in, talk with my teammates and my coaches. But I plan on being here next year and making another run at it."

His Saints could have been in the Super Bowl following regulation was it not for a blatantly missed call by the officiating crew.

Brees' third-down pass to Tommylee Lewis with less than two minutes remaining in regulation fell incomplete, but only after Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman hit Lewis well before the ball arrived. The officials did not throw a flag, which forced the Saints to settle for a field goal before Greg Zuerlein forced overtime and won the game with two field goals of his own.

Brees, who has a Lombardi Trophy on his resume, also went through a heartbreaking loss in last season's playoffs against the Minnesota Vikings when Stefon Diggs scored on the game's final play in the divisional round on a deep pass that was misplayed by New Orleans' secondary.

The Purdue product is clearly still motivated to chase another Super Bowl and will return after he completed 74.4 percent of his passes for 3,992 yards, 32 touchdowns and five interceptions during the 2018 campaign.