Patrick Mahomes falls as Buccaneers brought heat

Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes ran for his life against the Buccaneers in the Super Bowl but fell short. We have his report card and analysis.

The Kansas City Chiefs enjoyed a fantastic season that culminated in being the favorite in Super Bowl LV. Their explosive offense almost overcame losing almost their entire line of blockers due to injuries, but eventually ran into a buzzsaw that was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Even quarterback Patrick Mahomes looked as pedestrian as we’ve seen him all year.

The Chiefs simply lacked an answer for what became a perfect storm to lose 31-9. A line of backup blockers were demolished by an excellent pass-rushing defensive line, and the offensive playcalling remained inferior to what Todd Bowles cooked up to stifle the unit. Even the Chiefs’ playmakers couldn’t get out of their own way when it came to converting on clutch moments.

Mahomes’ stat line failed to tell the whole story but it was indicative of the dominance by the Buccaneers. He completed only 26-of-49 passes for 270 yards, with two interceptions and three sacks. He was pressured a Super Bowl-record 29 times.

Like we did all season long, we’re going to breakdown Mahomes’ performance beyond the numbers. He enjoyed a dominant, MVP-caliber season that we chronicled weekly. It’s been a joy to follow him so closely this season.

We’ll be grading him on playmaking, decision-making, accuracy, efficiency, and awareness in addition to tracking his directional and situational passing effectiveness.

Playmaking: B+

Being close doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day to those simply wanting results, but it’s impossible to not appreciate the artistic performance from Mahomes as he did everything he could to buy time to throw the ball. His body was twisting, turning, off-balance and draped in defenders, yet several times he launched the ball downfield and nearly connected on big plays.

The Chiefs shouldn’t have needed extreme plays like this to have a chance to win, but failing to come down with these miracle heaves were their only way to compete. Unfortunately for Mahomes’ reputation and the Chiefs’ chance to win, his playmakers let him down every opportunity. Mahomes lost three first downs and two touchdowns on three total drops.

The only quarterback in the league that’s shown the consistent ability to play as well as Mahomes in these circumstances is Russell Wilson. But Tampa Bay’s defense never let up, and masterfully crafted the right roster and gameplan to take down this battered unit.

Mahomes missed some throws his effort and the windows he did create deserve praise overall.

Decision-Making: B

The Chiefs had so much go wrong that it’s important to identify what went right. Much of what the Chiefs ran early in the game was scripted to be screen action or misdirection-based. Though Mahomes sometimes will transcend that system, he didn’t have the time to even attempt to, and the Buccaneers swallowed their diversion tactics.

The game progressed and the results were a mixed bag. His two interceptions were reckless bad reads born from continually failed attempts to that point. But the film also showed a complete lack of other options that would’ve been better.

The issues with Mahomes’ game largely came down to misfiring on the opportunities he had to connect. He rarely had time to dissect what he was seeing, and he was scrambling to the weak-side of the pressure as soon as the ball touched his hands because he read the pressure so early. Some of his decisions would’ve looked better with a more accurate throw.

There were also plenty of examples of him putting the ball on the money and receivers losing the ball. We simply hadn’t seen those instances often over the last two years enough to think it would happen on this grand stage. It did, and the kingdom came crashing down as average to slightly above average grades from Mahomes wasn’t good enough.

Accuracy: C+

The margins were razor thin this game in a way that we haven’t seen this year. The Buccaneers never let up on Mahomes with their relentless pass rush, and winning with four down linemen throughout the game was the key part of any formula that led to this outcome. It happened, and whether due to the pressure, tight coverage or toe injury, Mahomes’ accuracy simply wasn’t what it needed to be.

The bar was probably impossibly high considering how poorly the Chiefs’ defense showed. It’s hard not to wonder how this game would’ve played out if some key throws were more on target, though. This early miss to Mecole Hardman should’ve had more air under it and led him upfield, for example.

Only 23 of his 37 passes that went beyond the line of scrimmage, and weren’t clear throwaways, were catchable. Tampa’s disciplined split-safety strategy worked perfectly, and limited the Chiefs to one catchable pass over 20 yards on five tries. This was a massive change from their last matchup.

There were problems with the short game as well. Mahomes missed on seven throws from 0-10 yards thanks to the barrage of defenders coming at him. He simply couldn’t get comfortable.

The good plays almost led to some serious momentum and scoring drives. Mahomes was solid on throws 11-19, but the rest of his accuracy was below the norm we had gotten used to.

Efficiency: D

This year had been filled with situational dominance from this offense. They ranked among in the elite of red zone and third down play, but both failed to produce the big chunks of production they had enjoyed until this game. Mahomes was shut out from the end zone as the Chiefs settled for three field goals.

Conversion downs brought more struggles as well. While seven of his 13 attempts on third or fourth down were catchable, that’s below what his average has been. He failed to throw beyond the marker on six of those attempts.

Furthermore, only four of the seven tries on conversion downs were accurate. All of a sudden it’s easy to see that this offense lacked bite in the situations that served as their game-changing moments all season long.

Awareness: B

Mahomes took one bad sack, but often times moved away from the pressure with impressive awareness. His natural feel for the game is incredibly rare, and his body control was on full display against all odds.

Mahomes helped give the Chiefs a long shot prayer in this game and that’s more than what almost every other passer in the league could say. He’ll take this game and learn from it, and surely lead the team deep into the playoffs again in 2021 if health allows.