Super Bowl LIX Proves Definitively That, Contrary to What You've Heard, Patrick Mahomes is Not Tom Brady
If you'll allow me a quick history lesson, the 1988 Presidential election is memorable for just a few reasons. Mostly for the fact that then-Massachusetts governor Mike Dukakis was one of the worst candidates of modern times. So bad that not three years later he was a punchline in a Naked Gun movie. Another was an exchange between the VP candidates in their debate when lightweight Dan Quayle compared himself to JFK. While his opponent Lloyd Bentsen had a response all chambered up that Quayle walked right into like a Jon "Bones" Jones roundhouse kick. "I knew Jack Kennedy," he said. "Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.''
I reference this to say this morning, I knew Tom Brady. Tom Brady is a friend of mine:
And Patrick Mahomes is no Tom Brady.
Super Bowl LIX proves that conclusively. In the lead-up to this game, the public and the football intelligentsia got way out over their skis declaring that Mahomes was 60 minutes of football away from proving that he was the One True GOAT. With comparisons like this going viral:
And arguments like this getting made so often it became impossible to avoid them:
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Now you might have thought that any such "MJ or Lebron?"-style debate between Mahomes and Brady became permanently null and void after Brady beat the Chiefs twice in the postseason. And if that's you? Oh, you sweet summer child. A little thing like Brady winning seven championships wasn't enough to prevent the arguments that, say, Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers were better quarterbacks. Had Mahomes ripped off three straight Super Bowls, we'd have never heard the end of this insipid conversation.
Fortunately for us, reality got a vote this time. And for the foreseeable future, any talk of Mahomes as the GOAT is DOA. Time of death, 7:15 of the 2nd quarter:
Statistically, Mahomes managed to bail himself out late in the game after he'd helped the Eagles put it out of reach. Three meaningless garbage time touchdowns rolled a coat of paint over the squalid eyesore he'd built for the first three quarters.
But let's not ever let it be forgotten that Tom Brady never played this badly in any of his 10 Super Bowls. And that his body of work on the biggest stage in sports is vastly superior to Mahomes':
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You can easily make a case that Brady's "worst" Super Bowl performances (a relative term if ever their was one) were his two against the Rams. In his first, he completed just 16 of 27 passes for 145 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs and a passer rating of just 86.2. In the second, his line was 21 of 35 for 262, 0 TDs, 1 INT and 71.4. But in the first, he led a game-winning drive that moved the ball 53 yards in the final 1:37. In the latter, he led back-to-back 4th quarter scoring drives. A 5-play, 69-yarder that ended with the game's only touchdown, and a 9-play, 72 yarder that led to a field goal that put the game out of the Rams' reach. Combined those kept the ball away from Sean McVay's offense for almost six precious minutes. And the 10-point margin of victory was the biggest of Brady's Super Bowl career in New England.
Not to be lost in comparing those two games? They were played 18 years apart. And of course, he was far from done even then.
Let's see Mahomes do that. Let's see him do anything remotely approaching leading a scrappy team of massive underdogs to victory against a budding dynasty like the Greatest Show on Turf, then 14 years later throw for four touchdowns against the Legion of Boom defense, lead a comeback from down 28-3, then move onto the worst franchise in NFL history and make them a champion in his 20th season as a starter. I'd say, "Let's see him throw just 6 INTs in his Super Bowls," but that ship already sailed. And in order for him to match Brady's 21 touchdown passes, he'll need another 13. And at the rate he's going, he'll need to get to eight more Super Bowls to accomplish it.
When he manages that, we can have a talk. Unless and until that day comes, stop this talk about Mahomes being better than Brady. There can be only one GOAT.