Patrick Mahomes just got blown out with everyone watching.
And it doesn't really matter.
Well, of course it matters in many regards. The Kansas City Chiefs were painstakingly close to a historic Super Bowl three-peat, and instead, they'll enter the 2025 season without the "defending NFL champions" tag they've gotten used to, having to opt for the less glamorous "defending AFC champions" instead.
It also matters because KC's loss was Philadelphia's gain. Jalen Hurts, a quarterback who so many fans wanted to watch crumble, did the opposite. He rose to the occasion, thoroughly outplaying Mahomes while the game was still in the balance. It matters to Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, who was (foolishly, for the record) on the coaching hot seat before the Eagles bye week this season and is now vindicated as an elite head coach — which he always has been.
It matters because now I get to go to a parade on Friday, and that will be really fun.
But aside from a strictly numerical difference — he has 3 Super Bowls instead of 4 — it doesn't matter for Patrick Mahomes' pursuit of Tom Brady, and it doesn't matter for his "legacy."
All that happened in Super Bowl 59 is that Patrick Mahomes was unable to do something that every other quarterback in the history of the NFL — Brady included — was also unable to do. Lampooning Mahomes for not winning three straight Super Bowls contains a pretty massive oversight... he just made three Super Bowls in a row and won two of them.
Getting accustomed to greatness
The further away we get from the playing career of all-time greats, the more their on-field accomplishments begin to warp in our minds. Yes, Tom Brady won six Super Bowls. He also went a decade in between his third ring and his fourth. He lost three Super Bowls, lost in the AFC Championship, lost in the divisional round, lost in the Wild Card.
It's easy to think of Brady of unbeatable, because by normal sports standards... he was. But he still lost. He won his fourth ring at 37 years old; Mahomes is 29. I'd say he's still on a pretty good pace, whether he reaches the outrageous mark of 7 or not. To use Super Bowl 59 as the measuring stick between Brady and Mahomes misses a chasm of context, as Mahomes wasn't just aiming for something Brady never did, he was aiming for something no one's ever done.
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have run the NFL for the past six seasons, and I can't blame everyone for taking a victory lap after they were defeated. Trust me, I took a few of them around Philadelphia a few days ago.
But to act like Mahomes losing this Super Bowl tarnishes anything about what he's accomplished in the league so far... that's not something I can get behind. I'm still really excited for that parade, though.