Since being drafted No. 10 overall in the 2017 NFL draft, Patrick Mahomes has led the Kansas City Chiefs to three Super Bowl victories in five appearances.
He has helped pioneer what can only be considered the latest NFL dynasty, but the tune around him being in contention for being the greatest of all time (GOAT) has seemingly changed after his most recent Super Bowl Loss. Mahomes and the Chiefs were blown out for the second time in five appearances, as they lost Sunday’s Super Bowl LIX to the Philadelphia Eagles 40-22.
To make matters worse, the game wasn’t nearly as close as the already lopsided score indicated, as the Chiefs added two meaningless touchdowns with under three minutes remaining in the game. The ugly loss led to The Ringer’s Ryen Russillo expressing that Mahomes’ pursuit of surpassing Tom Brady as the GOAT has been impacted significantly on a recent episode of the “Ryen Russillo Podcast.”
“The Mahomes pursuit is dented,” Russillo said. “Brady doesn’t have any of these games.” You got the 31-9…It’s a head-to-head (with Brady). And I would ask Mahomes people like if it were the other way around would you ever say ‘Hey he beat them head-to-head?’ Of course you would.”
Russillo later added that the loss would “haunt” Mahomes simply due to how much was at stake for the franchise and his personal legacy.
“This one shall haunt Mahomes,” Russillo said. “You’re on the doorstep of a three-peat, and you’re gonna be thinking, ‘How did that other team make me look that bad for 3.5 hours? In a game I already played in multiple times.’ Like it wasn’t the atmosphere, it wasn’t the pressure, it wasn’t the build-up. I’ve seen everything and I looked lost.'”
Mahomes finished the game having thrown two picks, one of which was returned for a touchdown, and he was also sacked six times despite the fact that the Eagles didn’t bring a single blitz, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss. He also accumulated a brutal QBR of 11.4.
While holding this one loss against him in the GOAT convo may be a bit unfair, it is worth noting that all three of Brady’s losses were one-score games, losing by a combined 15 points.
It could be a case of recency bias, but Brady’s status as the best to ever do it may be the actual biggest winner from Sunday.
