Patrick Mahomes is inching closer to Tom Brady’s GOAT status season after season. Now, with a three-peat in the works, it has never been this close, as no other QB or team has been able to pull it off in the Super Bowl era. However, Paul Pierce interestingly believes that a loss today against the Texans, which would end Mahomes’ three-peat bid, would mean the QB would never be in the GOAT discussion again.
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Pierce took to his show SPEAK to share his stance. He had previously expressed disbelief that the Chiefs aren’t Super Bowl favorites. Now, it seems he’s bracing for a scenario where the team loses to CJ Stroud and the Texans in the Divisional Round, with Mahomes’ GOAT status hanging in the balance.
“If Mahomes loses tomorrow, there will probably never be a conversation about him reaching GOAT status over Brady… Because the only thing that can get him in the conversation is a three-peat.”
The take earned much disdain from his co-host Keyshawn Johnson, who was quick to point out that Brady, too, lost in the playoffs during his time. It’s only natural. But Pierce was having none of that.
“If Mahomes loses tomorrow, there will probably never be any conversation about him reaching GOAT status over Brady.” — @paulpierce34 pic.twitter.com/rFDZkaMr6E
— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) January 17, 2025
It’s a good point that Johnson brought up. Brady was an incredible 35-13 in his playoff career, but some of the ugly losses in there tend to be forgotten.
Maybe the biggest loss in Brady’s playoff career is debatably one of the most heartbreaking losses in NFL history. The New England Patriots had a chance to become the second team to ever finish undefeated with a Super Bowl. All they had to do was beat an underdog New York Giants team that went 10-6 in the regular season and got hot in the playoffs. But they lost 17-14 in a classic and never accomplished the illustrious feat.
There were other bad playoff losses in Brady’s career, and the fans made sure Pierce remembered them.
Brady lost at home to Mark Sanchez. Mahomes hasn’t even turned 30 yet.
— Serhan Dayi (@SerhanOnX) January 18, 2025
Brady played 23 seasons and didn’t win a Super Bowl between 2005-2015, Mahomes is in his 7th season with a long way to go, a little early for the GOAT talk, both of them are great and of course Brady should be on top for now!
— Craig (@cdp1212) January 18, 2025
Some fans even wondered why a former basketball player should be speaking on the topic at all.
i don’t understand y’all listening to Paul Pierce he swears he better than Lebron so him talking about football in general is ridiculous
— (@MahomesDotss) January 18, 2025
This is why BBall players need to stay in their lane.
— Keep’n It Real (@BrianJenni93381) January 18, 2025
The comments from Pierce seemed to ruffle some feathers in the NFL community and Chiefs Kingdom. Everyone quickly came to Mahomes’ defense, pointing to the numerous accomplishments the star quarterback has achieved in such a short time. For them, Mahomes is already part of the GOAT conversation alongside Brady.
Maybe we’re all ahead of ourselves, but you can’t deny the facts. Mahomes has led the Chiefs to six straight AFC Championship games; he’s appeared in four Super Bowls and won three — all in just eight seasons, seven of which he’s started. And the stats start to jump out when you compare the two at the same age.
At 28, Mahomes already has more wins than Brady, almost 100 more TD passes, fewer interceptions, and the same number of Super Bowl wins. He’s on pace to have as many (if not more) Super Bowls as Brady by his 15th season, and by that time, should have surpassed him in some other career accomplishments as well.
So no, if Mahomes loses, he will not lose leverage in the conversation. It would be like when Brady lost to Mark Sanchez and the Jets in 2011. But that most likely won’t happen. At home, with the elements in their favor, the Chiefs are 8.5-point favorites. They should easily win and move on to their seventh straight AFC Championship. Further pushing the GOAT envelope for Mahomes.
