Patrick Mahomes certainly seemed to know what history is at stake in Super Bowl LIX when he spoke with FOX Sports lead NFL analyst Tom Brady ahead of Sunday’s big game.
The 29-year-old quarterback has a chance to win his fourth Super Bowl, something that only Brady and two other quarterbacks in NFL history have done. But, more notably, he has the opportunity to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to the first three-peat in Super Bowl history.
So, when Brady asked Mahomes to describe what he might feel if the Chiefs knocked down the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in one word, he didn’t mince his response.
“Greatness,” Mahomes replied.
When Mahomes became the Chiefs’ starting quarterback in 2018, he was looking to chase down Brady. The all-time great led the New England Patriots to victory over the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game that season, ending Mahomes’ first MVP year on a sour note. Two years later, Brady got the best of Mahomes again when he led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to victory over the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.
Ever since that loss, Mahomes has gone 11-1 in the postseason, winning his last nine playoff games ahead of Super Bowl LIX. As Mahomes and the Chiefs have formed a dynasty, he essentially replaced Brady as the game’s top quarterback.
This season was a further testament to the Chiefs’ greatness, going 15-1 in the games Mahomes started during the regular season. More impressively, the Chiefs have won all 12 one-score games they’ve played in this season, winning in ways that the Patriots did in their dynasty days.
Not only can Mahomes relate to Brady because of that, but he also seemed to recognize that it’s easier to win now with that all-time great out of the game.
“I have so much more appreciation for what y’all did now because I was someone that was like, ‘Man, why do they win every single year? I want the Cowboys [to win],'” Mahomes told Brady. “But I think it’s brought us closer together as a team. Even if you root against us, you have to respect us because of the way that we play. We’re going to get it done no matter what the situation is and we’ve been in so many of these different situations. I think that is our edge. We don’t panic when stuff doesn’t go our way. We just know we can make it right the next play in some of these big games because we don’t have to play guys like you anymore.”
As Mahomes and the Chiefs have seemingly won in ways that feel unimaginable on a weekly basis, his stats have taken a bit of a hit from his MVP seasons. He wasn’t even a finalist for MVP this year despite the Chiefs’ strong record.
Tom Brady & Patrick Mahomes talk building dynasties, QB greatness & more
Similar to Brady, though, Mahomes has executed when necessary this season, with NFL on FOX lead analyst remarking that the “mark of a great quarterback is finding a way to win the game no matter the circumstances.”
“One-hundred percent,” Mahomes replied. “I learned that a lot over these last few years when I started getting new teammates. You have to build chemistry with new guys and you have to find ways to have success. There’s so much more to quarterbacking than what the stats show and I think I’ve learned that in this point of my career. So, if you’re in this game and you’re winning this game, that’s a success. It’s not about how you get there or how it looks.”
Still, Mahomes has seemingly risen above the rest of the football world in a way that Brady did during his playing career. He wants to keep himself grounded throughout all of Kansas City’s success.
“I just try to be authentic to who I am,” Mahomes said. “You want to be what got you there. You want to be the football player that loved football, that wanted to be in the gym working out and wanted to leave everything they had on the football field.”
As Mahomes has the opportunity to become the first quarterback in NFL history to win four Super Bowls before turning 30, most of the remarks throughout his career have been about how he’s the youngest quarterback to accomplish certain things. But as he nears 30 and has been a staple in the NFL’s biggest games for nearly a decade, he’s quickly becoming one of the NFL’s old heads, something he’s still struggling to come to grips with.
“I feel like I’m young, I feel like I’m a young guy,” Mahomes said. “Then, I start talking to the guys about music I listened to growing up and they’re like, ‘Yeah, I heard that in elementary school.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m not that old yet.'”
But when Mahomes takes the field on Sunday, he’ll still be 29. With a win, he’d accomplish a pair of things Brady never did between a three-peat and winning four Super Bowls before turning 30.
Even though Mahomes is quickly breathing down Brady’s neck in the chase for the greatest quarterback of all time, the seven-time Super Bowl winner showed grace toward the quarterback who might supplant him as the best ever.
“There’s nobody that would be happier than me because I appreciate how hard it is to do,” Brady told Mahomes on the possibility of the Chiefs’ three-peating.
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