Patriots, Brady’s reign remains unchallenged after Chiefs’ Super Bowl implosion
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs still have a long way to go to equal the Patriots' dynasty.
COMMENTARY
Win or lose, the numbers weren’t going to add up.
Even if Patrick Mahomes helped lead the Kansas City Chiefs to the first three-peat in NFL history, the superstar QB was looking at an uphill climb in his attempt to equal (or surpass) Tom Brady’s unchallenged resume on the gridiron.
A triumph over the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX would have secured Mahomes’ fourth Super Bowl title — still three behind Brady.
With Brady now calling games instead of competing on the field, he will always hold a trump card over Mahomes when it comes to head-to-head play — holding a 2-0 edge over him in the playoffs with both the Patriots (2018 AFC Championship Game) and Buccaneers (Super Bowl LV).
Still, Mahomes’ knack for delivering in the clutch, postseason credentials, and the chance to win three straight Super Bowls had several media pundits ready to anoint the Chiefs’ signal-caller as the greatest of all time entering Sunday night.
“Tom Brady didn’t even win back-to-back-to-back Super Bowl titles,” ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said last month. “It would be huge for the sport, it would be huge for the city, it would huge for the franchise. And it would cement Patrick Mahomes as the greatest quarterback in the history of the National Football League.”
It’s a flawed argument when glancing at the stats.
But the discourse was growing louder and louder in the week leading up Super Bowl LIX — with the gap between Mahomes’ Chiefs and Brady’s Patriots set to be bridged even further had Mahomes managed to win his fourth title in five seasons.
Instead, that sizable gap grew even wider between an impressive Chiefs dynasty … and the unequaled reign that held court in Foxborough for two decades.
There’s no ignoring the numbers this time around.
The final score of Super Bowl LIX read 40-22 in favor of the Eagles.
But an 18-point victory for Philadelphia does little to properly paint the picture of how one-sided Sunday’s showdown at the Superdome was — nor does it properly encapsulate just how disastrous Chiefs’ campaign toward immortality unraveled on football’s highest stage.
The halftime score was 24-0 in favor of the Eagles, with Philadelphia boasting more points than KC had total yards (23).
Mahomes only completed 6-of-14 passes for 33 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions in that first half — with those two turnovers directly leading to a pair of Eagles touchdowns. His passer rating at the half was 10.7 — his lowest in any half as an NFL player.
Mahomes finished 21-for-32 with 257 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions, and was sacked six times in the loss, with a majority of that yardage racked up after the game was well out of reach.
Yes, Brady and the Patriots were not immune from major setbacks with a Lombardi Trophy within their grasp.
“I think about the three losses probably more than I think about the seven wins,” Brady acknowledged in the broadcast booth as the Chiefs’ season crept to a close in the fourth quarter.
During the nine times when a Brady-led Patriots team made it to the Super Bowl, three ended with New England walking off the field empty-handed.
In all three of those losses, Brady held a fourth-quarter lead — with those defeats to the Giants and Eagles coming by a combined 15 points.
In the Chiefs’ two losses in the Super Bowl to the (Brady-led) Bucs and Eagles, Kansas City has been run off the field — losing by a combined 40 points.
Say what you will about David Tyree’s helmet catch, Mario Manningham’s sideline snag, Wes Welker’s drop, or Malcolm Butler’s benching. But the Patriots under Bill Belichick and Brady never submitted no-show performances with a title on the line.
And be it a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to Seattle’s heralded “Legion of Boom” defense or “28-3” — the Patriots dynasty was also rife with scenarios where New England capitalized and clawed back against overwhelming odds to prove the doubters wrong and stand alone at the summit of the NFL landscape.
Sunday’s loss does not diminish the accomplishments that Mahomes, Andy Reid, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, and the rest of the Chiefs have forged over the last five years.
Mahomes, who won’t turn 30 years old until September, already has a resume that will earn him a spot in Canton — with only names like Brady and Montana standing above him as the greatest QBs to ever play the game.
The writing is on the wall that Mahomes will be back on the Super Bowl stage once again, where he has now thrown 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions in five appearances.
Brady? Ten Super Bowl appearances — with 21 touchdowns and six interceptions.
The numbers don’t lie.
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are among football’s royalty, and for good reason.
But there can only be one king — and KC still has a long way to go if it wants to reach that throne.
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