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Manuel
It might be premature.
It might be recency bias.
It might even be a complete bias against certain bandwagon fan bases that have emerged among AFC teams in the past few years.
Whatever it is, I came to a conclusion while watching Super Bowl LVII.
In leading a comeback on the way to a 38-35 Kansas City Chiefs win over the Philadelphia Eagles, one very real thought came to my mind …
There have been very few coach and quarterback combinations quite like Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes in the history of football.
Dare I say, with Mahomes still being only 27-years old, he’s on the path to being on the Mount Rushmore of quarterbacks.
It’s hard to find a better five-year resume than his. It’s one where he’s played in three Super Bowls, won two, has won two regular season Most Valuable Player awards and another two Super Bowl MVPs.
If he retired today, he’d already have a Hall of Fame resume. I don’t think that’s a question at this point. The case for Mahomes as the best of the current era goes so far beyond achievements and statistics.
Anyone who knows how football works in this day-and-age knows just how good he is at making the right play at the right time, making the clutch play and just straight up supplying a spark to his team.
Stats, after all, aren’t an independent endeavor in football. It’s a team game. Quarterback makes pass, receiver catches, receiver runs and both benefit.
The running back takes a handoff, the offensive line supplies a hole, a defensive player misses a tackle and a four-yard gain turns into a 24-yard gain.
The bottom line is that at the highest levels of football, a quarterback is responsible for a game of human chess every single play.
It’s likely that a quarterback goes up to the line in today’s game with a run play, a pass play and an audible.
It’s his job to put his guys in the right spot based off of what he sees and then readjust after the defense has adjusted. All inside of 40 seconds while playing in front of 60,000 fans. Then, once the ball is snapped, cycle through multiple options within a few seconds to find the best option to give his team the best chance at success.
Mere humans have no concept of how hard it is, myself included. It’s mere speculation for me.
Yet we’ve seen guys like Brady, Montana, Young, Brees, Manning and Mahomes make the chaos of it all look like child’s play.
We’re told, especially now more than ever, not to compare quarterbacks across eras because they played in different eras.
It’s true. Comparing Mahomes’ stats to that of a Troy Aikman’s is a fool’s errand based upon how the game was played in those time periods.
However, there is one thing I think translates across eras: the eye test.
Watching Joe Montana go to work in his era was art. We all knew it. When the ball was in his hands with the game on the line it was likely a done deal.
My argument is simply this – with a game on the line, I have no question about whether Mahomes is up for the moment.
I can’t say that about most quarterbacks and that’s the difference.
Yes, there may be a certain adopted son of Louisiana who is also up for the big moment that could have an argument for being the best quarterback in the game if things fell the right way.
But if we’re being honest, Joe Burrow is only one year younger than Mahomes and there is the real chance that he may be living in the shadow of Mahomes for the entirety of his career barring a catastrophic injury to either.
There are, of course, the variables. Andy Reid will eventually retire. Travis Kelce will eventually retire. Either team stands a strong likelihood of having to rebuild. And of course, we can’t predict a future trade.
But as things stand as they currently are, Mahomes is in a position to overshadow all the quarterbacks of his era.
That might be a tough pill to swallow for some around here. However, it’s the truth.
Patrick Mahomes is already one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play football, and everyone else is in today’s league is still building their resume.
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