We are living in historic times. The Kansas City Chiefs are going to their fifth Super Bowl in the past six seasons. For fans like myself that measure their Chiefs fandom in decades, it is a run of success that we never even imagined in our wildest dreams. While the entire team deserves credit, from the special teams that came up clutch multiple times, to the defense that made several short yardage stops and the crucial 4th down stop with the game on the line, the centerpiece of this dynasty is Patrick Mahomes, the most amazing quarterback that I’ve ever seen.
Patrick Mahomes took over a team that had been band-aiding the quarterback position with free agent cast-offs for decades. There were some good ones along the way. Guys like Joe Montana, Alex Smith, and Trent Green had their moments and the Chiefs almost always were good enough to get your hopes up, but never good enough to actually make it to the Super Bowl. That all changed when Patrick Mahomes arrived.
Since he became the starting quarterback the Chiefs have made the AFC Championship Game in all seven of his seasons. They have now made the Super Bowl in 5 of his 7 seasons as the starting quarterback. That’s insane. I wish I could give you a better description than that, but it’s so unbelievable that I almost can’t fathom it. Now the Chiefs are going for their fourth Super Bowl title of the Mahomes era and the NFL’s first ever Super Bowl three-peat.
The win in the AFC Championship Game over the Buffalo Bills also gave Patrick Mahomes the 2nd most postseason wins in NFL history, passing Joe Montana. Patrick Mahomes is just 29 years old and has only been starting for 7 seasons. Sorry to be repetitive, but that’s insane. INSANE.
Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo deserve tons of credit. So do players that have been in KC for this entire run like Travis Kelce and Chris Jones. It’s also worth pointing out how much rookie Xavier Worthy has stepped up, but today I want to just appreciate what Patrick Mahomes has done and is doing for this team, city, and all their fans because I’m not sure we will ever see something like this again.
There was some talk last season that it was the KC defense that carried them to their Super Bowl win. You can definitely make that case, but against the Bills on Sunday it was once again the Patrick Mahomes show. He was 18 for 26 for 245 passing yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. He also had 11 rushes for 43 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns. With the exception of a fumble during a RPO play with Isiah Pacheco and taking a sack that took them out of field goal range, he was about as efficient as a quarterback can be.
He picked the Bills coverage apart and when there wasn’t a pass to be made he was incredibly productive with his legs. When the Bills took a one point lead going into the fourth quarter he led the drive down the field and got the touchdown and two point conversion they needed to take back control of the game. Then after the Bills tied it up he got them down the field for the field goal that was the difference in the game.
This post from NFL’s Next Gen Stats sums it up well.
https://x.com/NextGenStats/status/1883713932197843076
Simply put, Mahomes was brilliant once again. He is on a run of success that we’ve simply never seen, not even during the Tom Brady dynasty in New England. Completing the NFL’s first three-peat would give him something concrete to match what we are seeing with our eyes, proof he’s the best we’ve ever seen play the game. Period.
The Philadelphia Eagles will make for a worthy opponent in the Super Bowl, but there will be time to break that matchup down over the next two weeks. The anti-Chiefs hysteria will probably only get worse as the Super Bowl nears, but this isn’t the time to think about that either. Right now it is time to celebrate. Right now it is time to reflect on how lucky we are as Chiefs fans. Right now it is time to appreciate the brilliance of Patrick Mahomes and the unbelievable run that he and the Kansas City Chiefs are on.
What a time to be a Chiefs fan.