How many NFL teams could Patrick Mahomes carry to a Super Bowl?
By John Buhler
The Contenders
This next group of teams have enough pieces to make it to the Super Bowl, assuming everything goes right for them. They won’t be favorites should they make it to Tampa. But with the right signal-caller stepping up for them, Mahomes could be this octet’s version of Joe Flacco, Nick Foles, Kurt Warner or Doug Williams, being the flint stone to ignite the fire of eternal Super Bowl glory.
Atlanta Falcons
Matt Ryan is arguably the best quarterback in football without a Super Bowl ring. Frankly, he should have one, but 28-3 happened. Atlanta is loaded in the receiving corps and played great defense down the stretch. Of course, Mahomes would have to overcome one Dan Quinn cliche after another, but if he can give Andy Reid a Super Bowl, he can win one for the Dirty South.
Buffalo Bills
Not since before getting Music City Miracle-d have the Bills been this well-run. They have a tremendous defense and an excellent head coach in Sean McDermott. Josh Allen has a cannon that matches Mahomes’, but we will need a little more touch on that Orchard Park rocket launcher to house the Lombardi Trophy. Every folding table will be broken and on fire in the Land of Sauce.
Dallas Cowboys
For the first time since Jimmy Johnson uttered it, people can say, “How ’bout them Cowboys?!” and not sound like a loser living in the past. We like Dak Prescott, but he’s flank steak compared to Mahomes filet mignon. If he were to win the Cowboys a Super Bowl, people will forget who Roger Staubach is. We’ll see the biggest bandwagon since LeBron James took his talents to South Beach.
Houston Texans
Houston has a Bill O’Brien problem. The Texans are the only NFL franchise to never play in a conference championship game. Sure, they’re only 19 years old, but Mahomes has slightly more arm talent than Deshaun Watson to take Houston to the Super Bowl. Mahomes is, dare I say it, a Houston problem solver.
Los Angeles Rams
Sean McVay is a 30-something wunderkind, or at least he was. Instead of having an immobile quarterback who doesn’t know where the sun goes, McVay lands the best pure passer Los Angeles will have had since Carson Palmer was at USC. With Aaron Donald at defensive tackle, the Rams would have the best player on both sides of the ball in the game today.
Minnesota Vikings
Historically, you can’t say the Vikings have flourished at quarterback. They had a great one in Fran Tarkenton, but that was before Bud Grant’s former team was playing indoors. Minnesota will be better than the 1998 team that went 15-1. Combine the best parts of Tarkenton, Randall Cunningham and Warren Moon’s games and you have Mahomes.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Nobody is better on a podium in front of a microphone than Mike Tomlin. It is time he gets a quarterback who is at his apex to win the Steel City a record-setting seventh Lombardi Trophy. Big Ben is fine, but the clock is ticking on his NFL career. With JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner, Mahomes would make the Steelers better than the Dallas Triplets. “How ’bout them Stillers…”
Tennessee Titans
The Titans would destroy whoever they played with Mahomes and Derrick Henry in the backfield. They will be known as Federal Express for their ability to deliver on the ground and through the air. Mahomes becomes a bigger than a Nashvillian Golden God, he’s a Titan!