Patrick Mahomes might not recognize a “Dark Side,” but, like Anakin Skywalker before him, he has become the very thing he swore to destroy.
Mahomes and his Kansas City Chiefs are in Las Vegas preparing for Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET, CBS). The internet has not been kind to the rematch, with almost everyone beyond the Midwest and the Bay Area voicing their preference to have seen either the conference silver medalists, Baltimore and/or Detroit, offer fresh championship sacrifices instead.
Instead, the world gets Mahomes’ Chiefs in the Big Game for the fourth time in five seasons, echoing the epic journey of the prior decades’ New England Patriots: while standing as an inspiring story the first time they made it to the final stanza of the NFL playoffs, the repetition quickly wore thin to the point where a once-downtrodden franchise has now become a gridiron villan.
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With the football world gathered in Sin City for the opening night of Super Bowl coverage, Mahomes said he has noticed the comparisons between his Chiefs and Tom Brady’s Patriots, which appeared in nine of the new century’s first 20 championship deciders.
“I can definitely sense (the comparisons),” Mahomes said, per Jeff Darlington of ESPN. “I never felt like that because I’ve never been like that in my entire life. But it’s become a little bit funny. I don’t want to say you enjoy it. I know the Patriots had that for a while. I’m hoping we do it in a different way with a little bit more fun and personality with it.”
“But as long as you keep winning, teams start to not like you, and I want to keep winning. So if that means some of the other teams and other fan bases aren’t going to like me, I’ll try to still have a smile on my face and not be a bad example, but I can be that villain for them if they need me to be.”
Mahomes’ rise to glory was perhaps viewed as liberating by some fed up with the Patriots’ semi-monopoly. Now that Kansas City has established its own stranglehold on the postseason, previously neutral fans have withdrawn their support. Off-the-field activities that keep the Chiefs in the spotlight (i.e. Mahomes’ frequent appearances in gameday commercials, tight end Travis Kelce’s whirlwind romance with lauded pop star Taylor Swift) have only added to the animosity.
Those storylines and more have been scrutinized in the two-week gap between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, but perhaps none have been driven into the ground more than the comparisons to Mahomes and Brady. With Mahomes on pace for his third Super Bowl ring by the age of 28, observers are wondering if Brady will have to vacate his throne atop the NFL world after a brief stay.
For his part, Mahomes took a side in the ongoing argument, firmly standing against himself thanks to Brady’s seven Super Bowl victories as compared to his mere tally of two.
“I mean, I’m not even close to halfway, so I haven’t put a lot of thought into it,” Mahomes said, per Christian Gonzalez of NFL.com. “I mean, your goal is to be the best player that you can be. I know I’m blessed to be around a lot of great players around me, and so, right now, it’s doing whatever I can to beat a great 49ers team and try to get that third ring.”
“If you ask me that question in 15 years, and I’ll see if I can get close to seven. But seven seems like a long ways away still.”
Brady earned his final Super Bowl with the Patriots after the 2018 season, one that saw the Patriots take down Mahomes’ Chiefs in the AFC title game. The two aerial legends later did battle in Super Bowl LV when Brady was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady threw three touchdowns en route to MVP honors in the 31-9 victory.