Three Super Bowl victories in the first six years of the NFL – that is Tom Brady’s record. Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs could now set what seemed like a record for the ages.
If his father had had his way, everything would have been completely different. Then Patrick Mahomes wouldn’t be there now quarterback the Kansas City Chiefs and wouldn’t be in Las Vegas either Super Bowl prepare against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night (February 12, 2024). Because Patrick Lavron Mahomes, never wanted Patrick Lavron Mahomes II, American football plays.
Rather, he had a career in the world for his son Major League Baseball in mind. Mahomes Sr. once spent eleven years there himself Pitcher played. And little Patrick Mahomes also had talent as a thrower. He had spent a lot of time at baseball fields during his childhood and often emphasized that he “baseball player at heart“. In 2014, the distribution of young players among the clubs of the Major League Baseball the Detroit Tigers even secured the rights to it.
Mahomes: Tried to play quarterback as an 11th grader
But Mahomes, a junior at the time and about to begin his first year of college, declined. He had long since decided on football. “In the eleventh grade he came to me and said he wanted to try quarterback to play,” recalls father Mahomes. The attempt became one of the most fascinating success stories in NFL history.
Patrick Mahomes is now playing his sixth season in the National Football League. And he can become champion for the third time. This data immediately triggered a reaction in statistics-crazy America. Is Patrick Mahomes possibly the GOAT – so the greatest of all time?
Brady won seven Super Bowls – one against Mahomes
This – of course unofficial – title of “Best of All Time” was once given to Tom Brady. Because he had six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots won and in 2021, in the last meters of his career, another one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – namely against Mahomes and the Chiefs. The GOAT debate seemed to be over. Once and for all.
But now Mahomes can do exactly what Brady once did at the same point in his career: become champions for the third time in his first six NFL years. That would be more championships than, for example, Peyton Manning or John Elway have won in their entire careers – and as many Super Bowl victories as Troy Aikman.
The best performances in the most important games
The former Dallas Cowboys playmaker believes the GOAT debate is premature at this point. For him, Brady is untouchable. But Mahomes, Aikman emphasized these days, is “undoubtedly well on the way there.”
And Mahomes now has a Bradyesque aura. He is seen as someone who delivers his best performances in the most important games. Just like a year ago in the Super Bowl against them Philadelphia Eagles. Shortly before halftime he injured his already damaged right ankle and limped into the locker room at halftime.
Despite injury, outstanding in last year’s final
There, Mahomes had the neuralgic area felt so strongly that he was then able to walk across the lawn without any visible problems. The man with the number 15 did what was expected of him – and for which the Chiefs gave him the first contract in sports history worth half a billion dollars in 2020: he led his team and ensured with his actions that Kansas City was after a 14:24 half-time deficit came back.
His 26-yard run in the third-to-last minute was crucial for the Chiefs to get deep into the Eagles half with the score at 35:35 and kicker Harrison Butker had no problems, bringing the win Field goal to the final score of 38:35. Kansas City was champions and Mahomes, as he did when he won the title in 2020, “most valuable players” (MVP).
Married to his high school sweetheart
As determined as Mahomes is on the football field, he is just as humble outside the big arenas. Scandals? None. And the fact that the world is now paying more attention to his teammate Travis Kelce because he is in a relationship with Taylor Swift is just right for Mahomes.
He married his Brittany two years ago. Both have known each other since their time together high school in Texas and now have two children.
San Francisco is slightly ahead with bookmakers
In the Super Bowl The bookmakers see San Francisco as a slight favorite. But who would actually want to bet against Patrick Mahomes in the most important game of the season?
At least not Peter King. He is considered one of America’s most respected football reporters and has been covering the NFL for 40 years. King doesn’t deny that San Francisco has enough quality to win the final. But if he had to choose a winner, King said, he would pick Kansas City – “because of Patrick Mahomes.”
Hopefully close to Brady at the end of his career
Of course, he was also asked about the comparison with Brady at his daily press conferences this week – and he was, as always, diplomatic. He has “first two Super Bowls won” And all he can do is give his best “every day and in every game”. And at the end of his career, he can hopefully say that he is close to Tom Brady.
Brady also commented on the GOAT debate. He was a guest on The Pat McAfee Show. Should anyone ever seven Super Bowls win, he would be assured of respect. Because, the 46-year-old continued, he knows how difficult it is to achieve that.