Chiefs Super Bowl Impact
The Kansas City Chiefs, led by Patrick Mahomes, just won their third Super Bowl in the last five seasons. After a game and a season that was by no means easy. From a home loss to open the season against Detroit, to an abysmal Christmas Day performance against the Raiders that was once again at home, the doubters swarmed around the Chiefs this season. Through all the doubt and turmoil, the chiefs stood tall and ran through their playoff gauntlet. A playoff path of the Dolphins, Bills, Ravens, and 49ers is one of the most impressive playoff runs that we’ve seen in years. After the win, Patrick Mahomes made it clear that the Chiefs dynasty is not done yet. While this is certainly true, I’m going to focus on how win number three has affected the legacies of the Chiefs and some of their players.
Does this officially make the Chiefs a dynasty?
The answer here is yes. This win does not make the Chiefs the greatest dynasty of all time, or the most dominant. What it did do, was put them among the elite dynasties to ever play the game. We’re talking the Tom Brady Patriots, the Steel Curtain Steelers, the 1990s Cowboys, and of course a few others. Of course there are some teams that went on runs where they won more than 3 rings. However, as I’ll say throughout this piece, the Kansas City Chiefs are not done. Winning more Super Bowls will be no easy task, but this team is up for the battle.
I don’t believe this was the best of the three Chief’s title winning teams. With that being said, they went through an absolute gauntlet to win it all. In addition to the path the went through, their defense was the best of the Mahomes era. We saw the defense thrive all season as they had playmakers at every level of the defense. Chris Jones was definitely a spotlight player, but I want be sure to give guys like George Karlaftis, L'Jariuss Sneed, Nick Bolton, and Isaiah McDuffie their flowers. There were many other players that made big plays, but those five showed up consistently this year, and some for more than that. The Buffalo Bills offense was the only one to get going in the playoffs and they were still held scoreless in the 4th quarter. Much of their success can be attributed to Steve Spagnuolo as one of the best defensive coordinators in the game. His defensive scheme caused issues for four of the best offenses in the league this postseason. Say what you want about some of the defenses in the Mahomes era, but Spags also had them ready to play in the playoffs.
The most worrisome part for the rest of the league is that this was the year to beat Kansas City. The offensive looked average at times during the season, the team seemed to be distracted, and Travis Kelce looked to be aging before our very eyes. As we saw, the offense showed up when it mattered, they locked in for the playoffs, and Kelce returned to his peak form. What we learned this season was that when #15 is your quarterback, there’s always a chance to win. I’m not going to rank and compare dynasties, especially as the Chief’s dynasty continues to grow their legacy. However, for the question of if they’re a dynasty, the answer if unquestionably yes. Welcome to the land of the dynasties Kansas City!
Where does this put Mahomes in the Goat conversation?
Let’s start out by saying this, he is not yet on the Tom Brady level. Brady is in a league of his own. Mahomes has taken the league by storm, but he will need to keep up this pace to enter the Brady arena. Tom Brady had the longevity, the stats, and of course the championships. The craziest part is, Brady honestly had 3 hall of fame stretches throughout his career. However, that’s enough about TB12 because this is about Patrick Mahomes and his greatness.
Patrick Mahomes is an elite talent with elite counting statistics. What’s scary is, he’s adding accolades and winning to the equation. He may not have had the overall season that he originally imagined, but I’m sure he’ll take the tough regular season losses, interceptions, and media critiques for his 3rd Super Bowl title. Before really diving into what this means for his legacy let’s take a look at Patrick Mahomes career stats so far:
3x Super Bowl Champion
3x Super Bowl MVP
2x Regular Season MVP
28,424 Passing Yard
219 Passing Touchdowns
1,936 Rushing Yards
12 Rushing Touchdowns
15-3 Playoff Record
Those are insane numbers for a 28 year old star that honestly could have 10+ years left in his career. That’s not even including the advanced numbers and the most important metric, the eye test. The next action item here is to see where these accolades stack up with other all time greats. Since he’s only played six seasons as a starter, his counting stats will be lower than many of the other top quarterbacks. So we’ll be looking at the rings and MVPs for this list. Mahomes is on a short list of quarterbacks with 2+ rings and 2+ MVPS:
Tom Brady
Peyton Manning
Joe Montana
Patrick Mahomes
For starters, that is an elite list to be a part of. People will now be debating where Patrick Mahomes ranks amongst these four pillars for quarterbacking excellence. No need to deep-dive into this, as Mahomes will just continue to improve upon his stats and accolades in the upcoming years. What I will say is that he is cemented (for now) in Tier 2 with Manning and Montana. Brady is in Tier 1 by himself with his career passing records and seven Super Bowl rings. This latest victory, however, has Mahomes apartment shopping in Tier 1 as he looks to move up in the football record books.
Mahomes could retire tomorrow and he would be a first ballot hall-of-famer. Thankfully, for those of us who love the game, we will get to see #15 lace up his cleats for years to come. To everyone who is praying of the Mahomes down fall, you might want to buckle in because he’s showing no signs of slowing down. The league is filled with great field generals, so expect some great quarterback duels involving Patrick in the coming years.
Andy Reid’s Legacy
Now we’ve got to show some love to Big Red himself. Andy Reid took a team that hadn’t won a Super Bowl since 1969 and has led them to 3 wins and 4 appearances in 5 years. The team has had elite talents like Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, Tyran Mathieu, Chris Jones, etc., but they wouldn’t have had quite the same success without the mastermind behind it all.
This run with the Chiefs has completely changed Andy Reid’s legacy. In Philadelphia and his early years in Kansas City, he was know as a genius offensive mind that struggled to perform in big games. With Philadelphia, Reid was 10-9 in the postseason, including a 1-4 record in NFC Championship games and a 0-1 record in Super Bowls. His coaching greatness could not be denied, but his clock management and late game decision-making skills were always questioned. Once he got to Kansas City, it looked like much of the same. The Chiefs had great regular seasons and a handful of brutal playoff losses, including a historic blown lead to the Colts. As we all know, this changed once the gunslinger from Texas Tech took over as the Chiefs quarterback. From the start, it was easy to see that this was a match made in heaven. I truly believe Mahomes isn’t as successful without Reid, and Reid doesn’t have 3 Super Bowl rings without Mahomes. That belief is not meant to tarnish the legacy or accomplishments of either individual, I am just reiterating the fact that this pairing is perfect and is a huge reason for Kansas City’s success.
Did the NFL rig this game for a Taylor Swift win?
Please stop it. This is the most unserious, goofy take I have ever heard in my entire life. While Taylor Swift did help make the NFL millions and bring in a new audience….. she had nothing to do with the outcome of the Super Bowl or any other games. If it was rigged for the Chiefs, they wouldn’t have called a defensive holding to keep the 49ers first drive alive in overtime. I’m going to stop there before I go on a huge rant.
There is one thing that irritates be about the Taylor Swift situation. She becomes a dedicated NFL fan for one year and her team wins the Super Bowl. That’s a load of garbage. Come into the trenches with the rest of us and experience the pain of a heartbreaking loss. Outside of the fact that she’s been spoiled in her football fandom, I’ve got absolutely no beef with Taylor Swift. She has only added more fans and attention to the game, so let her enjoy the sport and live her life.
The Chiefs Dynasty is here to stay
Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Andy Reid are not going anywhere. As long as the Mahomes/Reid duo stays together, the Kansas City Chiefs will remain relevant. They cemented their dynasty status this year and are now looking to enter the realm of the Tom Brady era Patriots. They haven’t quite moved into that penthouse with the Patriots. However, this dynasty just upgraded their living situation and they’re looking to move into the GOAT dynasty penthouse in the near future. If you’re a Chiefs fan sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. For the rest of us, enjoy greatness and hope your team can find their Mahomes/Reid combination.