“No Offense to Alex Smith”: Patrick Mahomes Gets Credit for Upgrading the Chiefs from a Playoff Team to a Dynasty

Patrick Mahomes’ career is off to an unprecedented start, yet it remains one of the most criticized in recent history. The pride and joy of the Kansas City Chiefs has eclipsed the likes of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning to become the winningest quarterback in NFL history through the first eight seasons of a career. 

Nevertheless, he’s routinely criticized for losing two of the five Super Bowls that he’s been to. In fact, there’s even a portion of the NFL populous who believes that the Texas Tech product inherited a playoff caliber team, one that also rarely faces quality competition once in the Super Bowl. 

According to Cole DeRuse of the How ‘Bout Those Chiefs podcast, those claims are as “laughable” as they are “lazy.”

“Sure, the Chiefs were a playoff team prior to Mahomes, but what did they actually accomplish before he got there? Andy Reid lost four of those five playoff games before Mahomes took over. No offense to Alex Smith, but this is what happens when you go from above-average quarterback play to the greatest-of-all-time QB play,” DeRuse explained.

In noting that the Chiefs went from having a 20% win percentage in the playoffs from 2013 to 2017 to an 81% win percentage since Mahomes became a starter, DeRuse highlights what should be obvious, Mahomes is largely the reason why Kansas City is winning playoff games. 

As far as those claims of lackluster contenders are concerned, well, that’s simply “not the Chiefs fault.” For the better part of the last decade, if not two, the AFC has routinely featured a higher level of quarterback play than its NFC counterpart. 

At the end of the day, that’s out of anyone’s control. Factor in that Kansas City is still tasked with clearing its own division before competing for a title, and that talking point appears to be hearsay.

“In the three Super Bowls that the Chiefs have won, the opponents have been quarterbacked by Jimmy G., Jalen Hurts, and Brock Purdy. The thing is, it’s not really the AFC’s fault that the NFC, on average, has weaker quarterback play. People look down on the Chiefs for those Super Bowl wins but magically forget about the teams that KC beat to even get there in the first place,” he added.

Having already received six Pro Bowl nominations, two All-Pro honors, and two regular season MVP awards, Aaron Rodgers is the only quarterback in the NFL today who is even close to Mahomes in terms of resume. Considering that Rodgers himself is currently entering what may very well be his final season in the league this year with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mahomes figures to soon stand head and shoulders above the rest of the NFL. 

While he may be chasing the ghosts of Brady and Manning, the rest of the NFL will be chasing Mahomes. If that’s not enough to verify his greatness, then perhaps nothing is.