Last Night We Got Our Answer To The Question "What Would Patrick Mahomes Look Like If The Chicago Bears Went Through With Drafting Him", And It Was Shocking.
NBC Sports - With the quarterback widely considered the greatest of all-time watching from the Fox broadcast booth Sunday, Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes had the opportunity to accomplish a feat not even Tom Brady could boast.
Instead, Mahomes and the Chiefs left New Orleans with their ambitions of a third consecutive Super Bowl title thwarted by Philadelphia in a 40-22 loss in Super Bowl 59.
The defeat pauses the debate that had surrounded the two-week lead-up to the game: Could Mahomes, at 29 years old and only eight years into his career, be on pace to surpass Brady as the NFL’s GOAT — greatest of all time — quarterback?
Mahomes is now 3-2 in Super Bowls, with Brady 7-3 all-time. Both owned a 3-2 record after their first five Super Bowl appearances; over the same span, Brady threw for a combined nine touchdowns against two interceptions, with 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions for Mahomes.
Mahomes is now 17-4 all-time in the postseason. His two interceptions tied a career-high in the playoffs and led to 14 points for Philadelphia.
Philadelphia followed a similar blueprint for success, sacking Mahomes a career-high six times. The Eagles recorded a “pressure” — a metric the league defines as any pass-rush play where the rusher affects the quarterback before the pass is thrown — on 38% of Mahomes’ pass attempts, despite never blitzing, according to the NFL’s NextGen Stats. The Eagles relied on zone coverage, which Mahomes often excels at picking apart, but under relentless pressure from Philadelphia, he never had the time Sunday.
People living outside of Chicago are probably asking themselves, "who the hell ever asked themselves that question?". But if you're a Chicago Bears fan, you know this is one of the MANY "what-ifs?" that has haunted the franchise for the last decade.
It was exacerbated to the point Patrick Mahomes Sr. basically dumped a gallon of salt into the wound when he described how badly his son was looking forward to not only be drafted by the Bears, but rescuing the organization from irrelevency.
NBC Chicago - The success of Patrick Mahomes continues to torment Chicago Bears fans.
After clinching his third trip to the Super Bowl in his fifth season as a starter, the Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback's father said he “wholeheartedly thought” he was going to be Chicago.
And he added that Mahomes “definitely wanted” to be a Bear.
“Because they told him that they were going to draft him," Mahomes Sr. told Parkins and Spiegel. "They told him they were going to draft him, so we thought he was going to be the third pick overall and go to Chicago. He had a great meeting when he there and liked all the guys that were doing stuff there. He thought he was going to be a Bear.
"And then once they traded up and got Mitch, it kind of hurt him. It really did."
The Bears famously traded up in the draft to select North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky with the second-overall pick. The Chiefs would eventually move up to the No. 10 pick to select Mahomes.
"He always knew that Kansas City had told him that they were going to come up and get him," Mohomes Sr. said. "They just didn’t know how far they’d have to go. But initially, he thought he was going to be a Chicago Bear.”
And the irony from that interview, Matt Nagy stacked the deck for the Chiefs to get Mahomes. Nagy gave Mahomes the plays they were going to go over in advance of his meeting with Andy Reid so he would ace the interview. Nagy would then be hired by the Bears as the head coach in 2018, after Mahomes' rookie season in Kansas City.
Tell me the Chicago Bears aren't hexed beyond imagination.
You can't.
Soldier Field might genuinely be built on an ancient Indian burial ground.
This is like the Alanis Morisette song "Ironic", in real life.
You're just walking your dog down the street on a bright sunny day, whistling to yourself, thinking about how grand life is. When all of a sudden, out of absolutely nowhere, a loose brick falls off a building above you, grazes the scaffolding below and caves your head in. Direct shot. Lights out. Game over. Goodnight.
Patrick Mahomes Sr. (with all due respect, the ONLY Mahomes outside of Jr. that any of us care to hear from, yet never do) finally decides to go on a podcast, and feels the need to bring up the fact that his son really had his heart set on being drafted by, and playing for the Bears?
Essentially, Mahomes wanted to be the first real quarterback the Bears ever had, and lead them back to supremity. You really have to respect it.
(FUN FACT - When the Chiefs played the Bears in 2019, Mahomes added some salt in the wound of Bears fan with a touchdown celebration. He counted to the No. 10, because he was the 10th overall pick after the Bears passed in favor of Trubisky.)
Instead, what we were all lead to believe via rumors, ends up being true - that Ryan Pace sold Mahomes on the fact he was the Bears' guy, got his all his hopes up, and then for some bizarro world reason, traded up himself to draft a guy his head coach never liked from the start…
A mystery I don't think we will ever know the answer as to why.
But one that will haunt Bears fans for eternity.
But one which I argue shouldn't. And here's why.
Matt Nagy was like Artie Piscano from Casino. He was so fucking inept, egotistical, and hardheaded (lethal combination), that, as Joe Pesci so eloquently put it, "he was the kind of guy who could fuck up a cup of coffee."
If you think Patrick Mahomes comes to the Matt Nagy "lead" Chicago Bears, and does what he did in Kansas City, you're fucking delusional.
Nagy would have ruined him the same way he ruined Mitch Trubisky.
I am OBVIOUSLY NOT arguing that Trubisky had the same ceiling as Mahomes, or is the level of player Mahomes is, but seeing what Nagy did with a player like Trubisky- one who was drafted as a mobile threat, a guy who could extend plays, pass on the run well, roll out the pocket, and scramble to pick up first downs, yet was forced to run the most vanilla, basic-bitch offense the league has ever seen- 3 and 4 step drop after 3 and 4 step drop, behind a gawd-awful line, tells you all you need to know.
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And that's not even getting me started on the bang-up job Nagy did totally obliterating any semblance of confidence his young quarterback had in himself, and by translation dismantling any confidence his locker room had in him. Continually throwing him and his offense under the bus on a weekly basis, NEVER once taking responsibility or accountability for poor game planning, horrendous execution, and horrific personnel management.
Last night was a great look into the crystal ball of what Patrick Mahomes running for his life every single snap, lining up under center for the Chicago Bears, would look like.
He wasn't just rushed and rattled, he played AWFUL.
Hats off to Vic Fangio and the Philadelphia coaching staff. That was a masterclass.
You can count on one hand how many times you've seen Andy Reid get outcoached that badly in a game. (Especially when having 2 weeks prep time.)
Brady alluded to it in the 3rd quarter, but if you go back and watch, from the first drive of the game, Mahomes had happy feet. It was the worst footwork he's ever displayed in his career. He was dancing the entire game. Could not set his feet on dropbacks; was too afraid to step up into the pocket, and was even throwing off balance all game.
He had two backbreaking interceptions, which Philly's offense made them pay for, but he should have had more.
He was forcing throws, something he rarely ever does.
He was so bad in the first half, when it was actually still a game, that Serena Williams had more yards than him.
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He threw ducks that were so uncharacteristic of Patrick Mahomes (he never throws a duck) that the room of people I was watching the game with was genuinely convinced he had to be playing hurt.
He was running for his life all game, and it showed.
That looked like Caleb Williams all season long.
And Justin Fields before that.
And Mitch Trubisky before that.
Bears fans know this facial expression and body language all too well.
Mahomes could not have dreamt up landing in a better situation than he did in Kansas City. He owes Ryan Pace his life.
Pace and the Bears did him the biggest favor in the world.
With the QB whisperer Andy Reid. A brilliant football mind, (far and away the best in the league today now that Belichick is gone). A guy not hung up on himself enough to cut off his nose to spite his face. A guy who just wants to win. A guy who builds offensive game plans around his players, and not the other way around. Who doesn't try to jam a square peg in a round hole.
With legit weapons out the wazoo. Guys like Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, two of the most dangerous players to ever play their respective positions. And, up until last year, a very formidable offensive line to protect him.
I'm not saying Patrick Mahomes isn't Patrick Mahomes if he winds up on any other team, but he's definitely not being called a future Hall of Famer in year 7 like he is now. And absolutely not in the discussion of taking Brady's throne.
Also, not getting blogs written about him being the greatest QB who's ever lived according to Marty Mush.
Would Mahomes have accounted for more wins, and possibly pulled out a W against the Eagles in that infamous double-doink game at Soldier? Yah, probably.
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But would he have probably ended up as RG3 the sequel shortly after? Almost definitely.
p.s. - case closed. Jerry did a masterful job covering this subject this morning, but I gotta get my two cents in.
Just like anybody who watched that game wouldn't be confused by the final score thinking that wasn't a dominant thrashing and a blowout, anybody who watched also doesn't let Mahomes' final stat line fool them. Those garbage TD's when the game was out of hand don't mean shit.
I also never want to hear Kelce compared to Gronk again. Not only was Kelce never in the same galaxy as Rob as a blocking tight end, but he chose one of the biggest stages of his career to phone in his worst game of his career and killed his own team all night. Something you could never say for Robby G.