Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are on the brink of history. It feels like it’s become a January/February tradition to fire that one up as that team looks to break records and accomplish unprecedented feats every year. The 2024 campaign was no different. Mahomes will be looking to complete the league’s first Super Bowl three-peat—a feat not even Tom Brady accomplished. However, many believe even this three-peat won’t boost Mahomes’ legacy enough to surpass Brady—yet.
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Speaking on the Breakfast Ball show, FS1 pundit Chris Carton said that a three-peat will not help Mahomes leapfrog Brady in the GOAT debate. Carton’s reasoning was sound enough. He claimed that greatness should be measured by the number of total Super Bowls, not how many you can win consecutively.
“Nothing… It’s not gonna change a damn thing about how we think about him. It’s not gonna change his legacy, it’s not gonna change the narrative. Five Super Bowl appearances, if he loses, he’s 3-2 in Super Bowls. If he wins this, I get it three straight. Four of five, great, rarified air. If the Kansas City Chiefs lose this Super Bowl to the Eagles, does your opinion on Mahomes change one bit. No? So it means nothing,” Carton said.
The three-peat would no doubt be impressive and arguably one of the most unbreakable records in the NFL. However, Carton’s point that a loss in Super Bowl 59 would not change how we look at Mahomes is a pretty good one. If a loss doesn’t matter, why should a win?
“I think he’s the 2nd-best QB of all-time already. I’m never gonna make him No. 1, until he wins seven or eight. So my opinion of him’s not gonna change one way or the other, nor is yours. So, winning a three-peat’s nice, little feather in your cap, I did something that Brady didn’t. That’s what this is about, it’s a one-v-one conversation. What does he have to do, for people to make the argument he’s better than Brady. I’m not ready to make that argument.”
Three-time Defensive Player of the Year, five-time 1st-Team All-Pro, and future Hall of Famer J.J. Watt pretty much concurred with Carton. However, while he did say that a three-peat won’t push Mahomes over the top, he noted that it adds another brick to the wall in Mahomes’ ongoing effort to build a resume that rivals Brady’s.
“You are certainly getting to that level of conversation. I think Tom is still the Messi. Tom Brady is still the GOAT. Tom Brady holds that title and he’s going to hold that title. I mean seven rings, everything that he has done,” Watt said on It’s Called Soccer podcast.
When it comes to comparing Brady and Mahomes through the same point in their careers, however, there is really no contest. Mahomes is miles ahead of Brady in every statistical category, from TDs to yards to wins and Super Bowls. And he kind of has to continue to track ahead of Brady if he’s going to eclipse the GOAT without playing into his mid-40s, as Brady did.
Not to mention that Brady will always be 2-0 against Mahomes in the postseason. That means the Chiefs QB really has to destroy Brady’s records to become the undisputed GOAT.
But, no matter what you think it does for his legacy, Patrick Mahomes and his Chiefs will look to complete that unprecedented feat on February 9. It won’t be an easy task, however. These 2024 Philadelphia Eagles might just be their toughest Super Bowl test to date. The Chiefs come into the game as slight 1.5-point favorites for Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans.
