KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes felt as though he needed to apologize after he helped the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in the AFC championship game last Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, the star quarterback and his teammates having punched their ticket to the Super Bowl for the third consecutive season.
Not for the outcome, but for quite possibly the worst spike in NFL history.
In a back-and-forth tussle between two of the NFL’s top teams, the Chiefs were driving early in the fourth quarter for the go-ahead score. Mahomes took off to the right, powered into the end zone and, with his adrenaline amped to the max, scrambled to his feet and attempted to spike the ball — only for it to squib out of his hand and into the sideline.
“That,” Mahomes said, “is why I don’t try to spike the ball.”
It was a natural outburst of unbridled joy, though, from a player whose fiery will to win has become almost legendary in his eight NFL seasons. But on the entire drive leading up to the score, Mahomes had been the complete opposite: calm, poised and under control.
In leading the Chiefs into Super Bowl LIX — their matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles is set for Feb. 9 at the Superdome in New Orleans (6:30 p.m. Eastern on Fox) — Mahomes was what those in the Kansas City locker room, players and coaches alike, have come to appreciate as “laid-back Pat.”
“The pressure part of it, when things can dilate you a little bit — when things are tight — don’t do that to him,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid explained. “He kind of flourishes in those moments when they’re the toughest. He’s just wired that way.”
The best in sports usually are. And make no mistake, Mahomes is among the best.
Not yet 30, he already has three Super Bowl rings (and was the MVP in each of those title wins) and is chasing a fourth, along with an unprecedented third in a row. He’s a two-time league MVP who is shattering NFL records with every season that goes by, and the face of a franchise that has reached the level of bona fide dynasty with this Super Bowl trip the fifth in a six-year span for Kansas City.
“He’s the best player I ever played with,” Chiefs wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins admitted. “I played with J.J. Watt, and J.J. Watt is definitely a Hall of Famer. But Pat is definitely the best player I ever played with.”
And he’s at his best when the pressure is at its most.
Need proof? How about the fact the Chiefs have won an NFL-record 17 consecutive games decided by one possession. Or that Mahomes has a winning record (27 wins, 26 losses) in games when his team trailed in the fourth quarter; the next-best quarterback with at least 25 starts in NFL history has a success rate of just 38.6%.
Then consider the postseason, when the pressure is pushed to another level.
When the Chiefs have been within one possession in the fourth quarter or overtime, Mahomes has led them to points on 13 of 14 drives. He’s a combined 40-of-56 passing for 552 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions plus a rushing touchdown on those 14 series.
In nine playoff games in which Kansas City trailed in the fourth quarter, Mahomes merely produced six comeback wins. In two of the three losses, he at least managed to get the Chiefs to overtime.
“Whatever he’s got to do to get us to the next level, to win the game,” Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce said, “Pat’s going to do it.”
It has been that way since childhood for Mahomes, the son of former Major League Baseball pitcher Pat Mahomes Sr. The younger Mahomes was always the athlete who kept an extraordinary calm, whether he was playing baseball, basketball or football.
“I’m sure growing up in a locker room with his dad was a big part of that, or at least a part of it,” Reid said, “but some if it is just innate, that’s given to you. He’s one of those guys, the tighter the situation, the looser he plays.”
It’s hard to find a tougher situation than the Super Bowl, where Mahomes is about to play for the fifth time.
In his first trip, against the San Francisco 49ers in February 2020, the Chiefs trailed 20-10 with just more than six minutes left before Mahomes led them to three straight touchdowns and a 31-20 victory. Three years later, against Philadelphia, the Chiefs trailed 27-21 in the fourth quarter before Mahomes helped set up Harrison Butker’s field goal for a 38-35 victory. And last year, the 49ers led twice in the fourth quarter and once in overtime, but each time Mahomes led the Chiefs back in an eventual 25-22 walk-off win.
Of course, the Chiefs would prefer to beat Philadelphia in a rout in their Super Bowl rematch next weekend, rather than take another title game down to the wire. But if that happens, they have confidence in their laid-back quarterback to get the job done.
“He has a history of doing those things in his career, in big-time moments,” Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said with a smile. “It’s usually a critical moment that he makes the play. That’s who he is.”