While the embarrassing performance at Super Bowl LIX certainly won’t help Patrick Mahomes in his pursuit of the G.O.A.T. title, at least he is well-equipped to handle the loss with grace.
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Having already tasted defeat on the gridiron’s grandest stage in his Super Bowl LV showdown against Tom Brady, Mahomes is now just as experienced in losing the big game as he is with winning it.
The failure to realize a historic three-peat may hit a little harder than your standard Super Bowl loss, but this familiarity with both success and failure is part of what makes him the NFL’s premier passer.
Additionally, Mahomes has the benefit of familial guidance on his side. Son of a winning pitcher in the MLB, he learned how to handle championship losses at an early age.
During the Super Bowl LV post-game press conference, Mahomes explained the lessons that his father taught him.
“My dad lost in the world series in his career, and he continued to battle and continued to be who he was.”
Scarily enough, he would also lay out the exact blueprint that Kansas City would go on to use in their now historic AFC Championship title run. Seemingly using a crystal ball, a then 26-year-old Mahomes declared,
“We’re going to get better… We’ve had a few failures, and we have to learn from that. We can’t let this define us. We need to get better going into next year… and preparing ourselves to hopefully be in this game again.”
As the old adage goes, the rest is history. Since then, the Chiefs have enjoyed three consecutive Super Bowl appearances before finally failing to defend their back-to-back title. While they will certainly be disappointed by the missed opportunity to make NFL history, this iteration of the Kansas City Chiefs will likely continue its winning ways for the foreseeable future.
The Philadelphia Eagles absolutely routed what was ultimately an inferior Chiefs team. Outgunned at nearly every position, Kansas City simply didn’t have the playmakers to compensate for the Eagles’ firepower.
The two interceptions by Mahomes, which contributed to the 40-22 drudging, will now serve as a crossroads moment for the eight-year veteran. Having enjoyed the greatest start to a career in NFL history, only time will tell if the Texas Tech product will be able to rally himself after tonight’s lackluster performance.
But then again, with his aforementioned upbringing, in addition to the pedigree of his talent, it may be safe to say that the Super Bowl stage hasn’t seen the last of Mahomes and the Chiefs.
Head coach Andy Reid, along with Mahomes and the Chiefs’ front office, will now turn their attention towards the 2025 regular season. With more than $15 million dollars in cap space to work with, fans can expect a healthy amount of offseason moves from Kansas City.
