https://sports.yahoo.com/sundays-super-bowl-loss-hardly-163420079.html
In the days preceding Super Bowl LIX, a question emerged as to the potential impact of another Chiefs Super Bowl win on the question of whether Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes or former Patriots and Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is the GOAT.
In the days following the Chiefs’ 40-22 loss to the Eagles, some have suggested that the debate is over.
It’s not. It just hasn’t been resolved yet. And it won’t be, for perhaps another decade or longer.
Mahomes has won three Super Bowls, and he isn’t even 30. Brady didn’t win his fourth until he was 37, and he went a full decade without a championship after getting to three.
In seven seasons as a starter, Mahomes has gone to seven conference championship games. His floor is losing the AFC title game in overtime.
Yes, he’s been on the wrong end of a pair of Super Bowl blowouts, against Brady’s Bucs in Super Bowl LV (31-9) and on Sunday night against the Eagles.
But remember this. In most of Brady’s 10 Super Bowls, he came to the table with the better overall team. After upsetting the Rams as 14-point underdogs in Super Bowl XXXVI, the Patriots were favored by seven in Super Bowl XXXVIII against the Panthers, by seven in Super Bowl XXXIX against the Eagles, by 12 in Super Bowl XLII against the Giants, and by 2.5 in Super Bowl XLVI against the Giants.
Super Bowl XLIX was a pick-’em game against the Seahawks. In Super Bowl LI, the Patriots were favored by three over the Falcons. In Super Bowl LII, the Patriots were favored by four over the Eagles. In Super Bowl LIII, the Patriots were favored by 2.5 over the Rams.
The Chiefs were 1.5 underdogs against the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV. The Chiefs were favored by three in Super Bowl LV against Brady’s Buccaneers. The Chiefs were 1.5-point underdogs in Super Bowl LVII against the Eagles, and they were 2.5 underdogs last year against the 49ers. The Chiefs were 1.5-point favorites over the Eagles on Sunday.
So Brady lost three times as the favorite, including the potential 19-0 game’s 12-point spread. Mahomes has lost twice as a field-goal-or less favorite — and he’s won three times as the underdog.
And Mahomes remains without question the best overall player in the league, the one player that anyone with any football sense would start a franchise. Even though his numbers were down in 2024, he also had his weakest overall corps of pass catchers yet.
On Sunday night, Mahomes had little time to find an open receiver, and his receivers didn’t do a good job of getting open. Did Mahomes curiously fail to pull the trigger on a potential home run ball to receiver Xavier Worthy when the score was 7-0? Yes. (As best we can tell, Mahomes thought Worthy had been washed too close to the sideline — and that he nevertheless regrets not letting it rip, in hindsight.)
If anything, the pos-Super Bowl criticism of Mahomes will drive him even harder. He’s not going anywhere. Because of that, the Chiefs aren’t going anywhere, either.
It’s impossible to imagine that they’ll suddenly embark on an extended AFC Championship drought. Given Mahomes’s extensive experience in those moments, he’ll always be a threat to win the biggest of games.
The only way to beat him in the biggest of games is to knock the Chiefs down early and step on their throats. If it’s close, Mahomes knows how to deliver. One ugly loss won’t pull the plug on that.
If anything, it’ll strengthen his desire to replace that memory with another parade, ASAFP.
So, not, the GOAT debate will linger. And Mahomes will have plenty of chances to add to the historic run with which he has started his career.
He still needs four more to catch Brady. Many factors will influence whether Mahomes can pull it off. Losing on Sunday night isn’t disqualifying. It only delays the final verdict.
https://sports.yahoo.com/sundays-super-bowl-loss-hardly-163420079.html
