Chiefs appear to have their savior in Patrick Mahomes
The Kansas City Chiefs have been wandering through the wilderness for years in search of a franchise quarterback. Patrick Mahomes stopped all that.
On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs won a football game. They beat the Los Angeles Chargers, 38-28, taking an early advantage on their main competition within the AFC West.
However, the Chiefs won more than just a single game. They may well have won the lottery.
Kansas City got its second look at quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the first-year starter who has expectations and dreams running wild in the City of Fountains. The 22-year-old did nothing to derail those fever dreams, throwing for 256 yards and four touchdowns without a turnover. He was sublime in all facets, at time throwing on the run, under pressure and from within the pocket.
It was beautiful. It was brilliant. It was really, really good quarterback play from a franchise seemingly allergic to it for much of the post-Len Dawson era.
Against what is expected to be one of the better defenses in the league, Mahomes was on point all afternoon. On the team’s first offensive drive, the Texas Tech product fired a bullet under duress, hitting Tyreek Hill in the hands on a slant for a 58-yard touchdown. In the fourth quarter, Mahomes dropped a dime to fullback Anthony Sherman for a 36-yard scoring strike, fitting the ball barely over the outstretched fingertips of linebacker Kyle Emanuel.
Heading into next week, the hype is only going to grow. Kansas City is going to Pittsburgh where its lost each of its last six trips, something that Mahomes will try to buck with a defense behind him that can’t make a play. If the Chiefs are going to take over Heinz Field, it’ll almost certainly be because of a high-powered attack led by Mahomes and his prodigious arm.
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Ultimately, it’s one week in a career that hopefully spans hundreds of them. Mahomes’ legacy in Kansas City won’t be defined, or even shaped, by Sunday’s contents. The Chiefs won a game, their quarterback played very well, and now they move on to next week’s opponents.
Still, none of that changes an undeniable truth. Mahomes is the most talented quarterback Kansas City has enjoyed in decades if not ever, giving the Chiefs reason to dream of what could be ahead.