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The Patrick Mahomes Effect

Since taking over as the starter in 2018, Patrick Mahomes has become the face of the NFL with his incredible playstyle that has led to a Super Bowl win.
Patrick Mahomes

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, has been the focal point on offense since taking over from Alex Smith in 2018.

You never know how young talent is going to turn out, but Kansas City saw enough in Mahomes to give him full control of the offense — and it was a gamble that paid off in more than one way.

The Patrick Mahomes Effect

In his two seasons as a starter, Mahomes has thrown for 76 touchdowns — a staggering 50 touchdowns in 2018 as a starter — and 9,412 yards to just 18 interceptions, an almost 4:1 TD-INT ratio.

Mahomes has led his Chiefs to back-to-back AFC West division championships in 2018 and 2019 and amassed a 4-1 playoff record — which now includes a Super Bowl championship and Super Bowl MVP on his resume.

Not a bad start to a promising career, eh?

Running Out of Words to Describe Mahomes

Mahomes’ ability to create big play time and time again has left people using every adjective to describe him.

The purest form?

A gunslinger.

Mahomes has shown no fear when driving the ball 50+ yards downfield with a mere flick of his wrist. Rolling to his left or to his right, there’s no throw Mahomes can’t make. And that’s what makes him dangerous.

The Brett Favres, Aaron Rodgers‘, Tom Bradys, Peyton Mannings of the world — whoever is your definition of the greatest thrower of the football, Mahomes has definitely entered that conversation.

The Comeback Kid

No great career isn’t without its comebacks. Once you’re down double-digits, can you rally the troops? Turns out Mahomes was quite capable of completing the comeback.

The 2018 AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots had its fair share of lead changes between Mahomes and Brady. Mahomes did enough to send that game into overtime but never touched the ball again as they watched Brady and company drive down the field and win the game.

However, once the 2019 playoffs began, Mahomes made sure that wouldn’t happen again.

After securing a first-round bye via the number two seed, they would host the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round as their first opponent. And if you blinked at all, Houston would quickly jump out to a 24-0 lead in the second quarter.

But if you blinked again, then you missed Kansas City erasing that deficit in a hurry to win that game, 51-31, scoring 41 unanswered points. Mahomes threw four touchdowns in roughly four minutes of game time.

The following week in the AFC Championship Game against the Tennesee Titans at home, Kansas City would find themselves trailing again. Two separate times Kansas City trailed by 10 points, and each time they erased those leads.

Mahomes threw three touchdowns — including the go-ahead score — and never looked back once they took the lead for good.

Opposing teams had been good at containing Mahomes, but it’s impossible to contain him for long — something Houston and Tennesee found out the hard way.

Surely, the San Fransico 49ers wouldn’t fall victim to another comeback, right? Not in the Super Bowl.

Saving His Best for Last

Mahomes would face his toughest test yet against the vaunted defense of San Francisco, who weeks prior held Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers in check to reach the Super Bowl.

The narrative looked to favor San Francisco as they had kept Mahomes mostly in check after his rushing touchdown. Jimmy Garoppolo did enough to gather a 10-point lead late in Super Bowl LIV.

Apparently, with 8:53 remaining in The Heart Attack Quarter in Super Bowl LIV and down 10 points is enough time to erase, yet again, one final deficit.

Mahomes’ deep ball of 44-yards to Tyreek Hill led to an eventual touchdown pass to Travis Kelce just two plays later to make it, 20-17, with 6:06 remaining.

A following San Francisco three-and-out only killed roughly a minute and with five minutes to go, Mahomes crafted his Super Bowl-winning drive.

San Fransico had taken away the deep threat for most of the game, but one more time, Mahomes found a wide-open Sammy Watkins for 38 yards at the San Francisco 10.

Following a sack for a one-yard by safety Jaquiski Tartt, Mahomes found a streaking Damien Williams who had just enough space to break the plane for the go-ahead score.

It would be the final comeback of the season for Mahomes and it resulted in winning Super Bowl LIV.

An Era of Dominance

Mahomes has been a dominating player since he became Kansas City’s starter and has put together one hell of a resume. The next step for Mahomes and company will be consistency.

To prove they weren’t a one-trick pony in 2019, and, ultimately, create a decade of dominance like Manning and Brady before him.

The AFC will have their challenges such as the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers and others to contend in the future, but for now, Kansas City is at the top of the mountain after waiting 50 long years.

With Mahomes at only 24 years of age, we’ll be seeing the Mahomes Effect for years to come.

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David Ruiz

David Ruiz

My name is David Ruiz and I’m a sports journalist graduate from Columbia College Chicago. Like most of you, I’m an avid sports fan and gamer. I like to write stories that aren’t only newsworthy but also by telling a grander story. My favorite sport is the NFL and so you’ll see a lot of those stories mainly. But if you ever want to talk sports, come at me!

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