Patrick Mahomes may not be the GOAT just yet, but like Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, his eventual coronation for such status feels inevitable. I love me some Tom Brady, and at least right now, Brady wipes the floor with Mahomes as a big-brand commercial actor.
However, Mahomes is capable of things on a football field that Brady couldn’t ever dream of doing — and he has a similar, insatiable desire to win as many Super Bowls as possible.
Brady defenders will argue that Mahomes could never supplant him for GOAT bragging rights since he lost an AFC Championship Game to him in his first year as a starter/league MVP, and because he lost a Super Bowl at the hands of the Tompa Bay Buccaneers (IYKYK with that team misspelled name). But at least on his current trajectory, Mahomes is on pace to surpass Brady in every conceivable way.
In the aftermath of the Chiefs’ 25-22 triumph over the San Francisco 49ers on Super Bowl Sunday, all kinds of wild Patrick Mahomes stats were pouring in. I couldn’t help but notice many of them. Figured it’d be worthwhile to aggregate them as a means of documenting the type of gargantuan legacy Mahomes has already built at 28 years young.
How about we begin with a basic anecdote about Mahomes’ unprecedented ability to rally his teammates in the most desperate, high-stakes situations?
What if I told you the rabbit hole goes even deeper when it comes to Mahomes’ uncanny knack for staging comebacks?
I need to type this out in slightly different words to make sure the message lands. In six playoff games, down double digits, Mahomes has won five times. Every other NFL team has been in that exact scenario a combined 54 times, and managed only six wins.
Related to this chain of thought: Super Bowl LVIII was certainly a tale of two halves. Look at how close Brock Purdy’s stats were to those of Mahomes when the Niners entered the locker room with a 10-3 lead at the lengthy intermission:
Look what happened thereafter. It is absolutely absurd what Mahomes is capable of, and how unfazed he appears to be when the lights are brightest.
How about we give some love to a couple psyche-bending stats from the Big Game itself? One such data set shows off the laugh-out-loud arm talent Mahomes possesses, and how his physical tools can swing the entire outcome of a game on one single bodily torque/flick of the wrist.
Then, we can give some love to Chiefs coach Andy Reid for marrying Mahomes’ unbelievable natural skill with exceptional play design in the scoring area to underscore how lethal of a combination this QB-HC tandem is:
Those two advanced Mahomes stats are a fitting summary of his blend of power and finesse as a pure passer of the football. Although he’s not thought of as a dual-threat playmaker on the level of Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, or Kyler Murray since he lacks their top-end speed, the numbers say Mahomes is as effective of a QB runner as there’s been in NFL history.
Many of the all-time greats have this sixth sense that blends pocket presence, spatial awareness, football IQ and innate instinct to know when to throw, when to run, when to take a risk and when to play it safe. Mahomes is like a self-correcting AI in real time, only he blends cyborg-esque football intelligence with the human artistry of creating contortionist arm angles and just enough daylight to pull away from defenders as a ball-carrier.
Put all that in a blender, and you get about as perfect of a quarterback as you’ll ever find. You know those Frankenstein-like memes where people like to take different body parts of QBs to forge the ultimate create-a-player? Other than straight-line speed and the height-weight dimensions of either Josh Allen or Anthony Richardson, I’d take damn near all of Mahomes’ individual attributes over anyone else’s.
That’s how Mahomes can lead a team to a championship — actually, back-to-back titles — during what’s perceived as “down years” in the aftermath of trading arguably the best receiver in the sport, Tyreek Hill. How about some stats in that vein?
OK. The moment has arrived. This is the part where we stack up Mahomes with the other best quarterbacks to ever do it. Troy Aikman downplayed Mahomes’ hot start to his career once upon a time, before he led the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl victory. Perhaps Mahomes scrawled down a five-year plan to catch Aikman in Super Bowls just to spite him. Nothing would surprise me about the young man at this point.
I know you want Brady comparison stats. I’ll give you Brady comparison stats. IN fact, I’ll do you one better. Brady and Peyton Manning Patrick Mahomes comparison stats!
Before we end, kindly use your imagination and add one win for Mahomes’ Chiefs to the following tallies, as they were only current prior to Super Bowl LVIII kickoff:
I still can’t believe the Chiefs were underdogs entering the Super Bowl. In fact, they were underdogs in each of their last three playoff games against Buffalo, Baltimore and San Francisco respectively. If all these Patrick Mahomes stats aren’t enough to convince the bookmakers to make some necessary adjustments, I don’t know what will do the job.
Just in case, let’s give ’em more, with a big shout out to ACTION Network’s Evan Abrams, who’s a statistical mining beast and the NFL equivalent of golf stats savant Justin Ray.
If you made it this far, I hope you found all these Mahomes statistics illuminating, baffling, and chuckle-inducing. Perhaps you felt the oxymoronic phenomenon of joyful depression in the event that you appreciate Mahomes’ greatness but are a suffering fan of any NFL team other than the Chiefs who has to go through this man for your team to get their hands on the Lombardi Trophy.
One final salute before I sign off to Patrick Lavon Mahomes II, Eventual GOAT. Live your best live at Disneyland, man.
