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Does Patrick Mahomes' poor performance at Super Bowl LIX disqualify him from GOAT debate?
One bad game does not make a back quarterback. But in Patrick Mahomes’ case, it does pump the breaks on talk of him being the best ever.
Mahomes endured a difficult night at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans this past Sunday.
He connected with Juju Smith-Schuster on his first play of the game for an 11-yard gain. But he would not generate another first down until after Kendrick Lamar had finished his half-time performance. And the Philadelphia Eagles handed the Kansas City Chiefs as comprehensive a beatdown as the Compton rapper inflicted on Drake.
The eventual 40-22 scoreline didn’t accurately reflect the game as it played out. It flattered the Chiefs.
Had the reigning back-to-back champions been told beforehand that Mahomes would throw for 257 yards and three touchdowns while they limited star Eagles running back Saquon Barkley to just 57 rushing yards, they’d have started printing “three-peat” t-shirts immediately.
But Mahomes’ stat line and the final score were both buttressed by garbage-time touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Before Mahomes connected with Xavier Worthy and DeAndre Hopkins for late, stat-padding scores, the Eagles were long out of sight, leading 40-6.
Make no mistake, this was a blowout. And on the biggest possible stage, Mahomes – usually so reliable under pressure – played the worst game of his career.
The responsibility for Kansas City’s defeat does not rest solely – or even primarily – with Mahomes.
Their offensive line has been an issue all season, with guard Joe Thuney operating out of position at left tackle after the Chiefs had failed to find a viable protector of their quarterback’s blindside all season.
In New Orleans, the Eagles were consistently able to get pressure on Mahomes. At one point, before they took their foot off the pedal late on, Philadelphia’s pressure rate was a staggering 52 per cent. And they did that without having to blitz once.
Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had such faith in his defensive line’s ability to bully the Chiefs in pass protection that he was able to deploy just four rushers while keeping his secondary back in coverage.
This means Mahomes was constantly hurried while also rarely having open receivers downfield.
General manager Brett Veach deserves criticism for failing to properly equip the Chiefs’ offensive line, with recent draft picks Kingsley Suamataia and Wanya Morris both dropped from the starting left tackle berth this season.
And head coach Andy Reid, usually such a masterful play caller, was strangely unimaginative in trying to wrestle his offense from Philadelphia’s constricting grip.
But even allowing for such caveats, this was still a stinker from Mahomes.
There were similarities to Super Bowl LV in 2021 when the Chiefs lost 31-9 to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Their offensive line was obliterated that time, too, leaving Mahomes running for his life for most of the game.
But on that occasion, although he finished without a single touchdown, Mahomes was still able to make things happen, to scramble and generate big-play opportunities out of structure with his arm – there was a picture-perfect throw to the end zone, for instance, that hit wide receiver Tyreek Hill in the face and fell incomplete.
Against the Eagles, Mahomes had no answers.
For a player with a Terminator-like ability to stoically dismantle opponents in high-stakes games, he appeared rattled by the Eagles’ pass rush.
The six sacks he suffered was the most in a single game of his career. Some were the result of poor protection; some were because Mahomes was either holding on to the ball for too long, hesistant to throw when receivers were open, or else walking into the pressure.
NFL
Midway through the second quarter, the Chiefs trailed 10-0. In each of the past three Super Bowls they’ve won with Mahomes under centre, they have at some point come back from a 10-point deficit. This was the moment in which they looked to their quarterback to deliver a sprinkling of his customary magic, to begin digging them out of a familiar hole.
But when the Kansas City offense took to the field, Mahomes was sacked on back-to-back plays to begin the drive. Then, facing a third-and-17, he scrambled to his right and threw an ill-advised pass across his body and over the middle of the field. It was intercepted by Eagles rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean, who ran it home for a touchdown. No.15 would throw another pick – this time to linebacker Zach Baun – before the interval.
The Chiefs trailed 24-0 at half-time. Mahomes had completed only six passes for a total of just 33 yards. Factoring in DeJean’s 38-yard reception runback, he’d connected for more yards with the Eagles than he had with his own receivers. The game was over long before those late consolation touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
It was notable that Brady – in his role as the colour commentator for Fox – was calling the game, too. The man Mahomes has designs on eclipsing as the NFL’s best-ever quarterback was the watching world’s narrator as those plans crumbled.
Of course, Brady didn’t win every Super Bowl he played in, either. But he was never so heavily beaten. It’s difficult to imagine that, during his prime, he would have been so lacking in solutions. He once found himself in a similar situation to Mahomes and the Chiefs at half-time of a Super Bowl, with the New England Patriots trailing the Atlanta Falcons 21-3 in 2017. Only he led arguably the greatest fightback in Super Bowl history in the second half to win 34-28.
Mahomes is still the best quarterback in the world. And the fact he was able to drag a deeply flawed team to a 15-2 regular-season record and another Super Bowl appearance is evidence both of his unique abilities and how heavily the Chiefs have relied on him to carry them in the face of sub-par team building.
He could still yet go on to eclipse Brady as the GOAT, too. After all, the Patriots icon was also 3-2 after his first five Super Bowl appearances.
But Mahomes’ legacy took a hit at Super Bowl LIX. The road to eclipsing Brady as the all-time king might be a little longer than it previously seemed.
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