Patrick Mahomes is tearing down great QB legacies before they can even start

Patrick Mahomes stole yet another Super Bowl appearance from Josh Allen.

No, no, don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean that the refs stole a Super Bowl. I’m talking about Mahomes, the 24-karat-gold quarterback in the Golden Era of quarterback play.

This is supposed to be the best that quarterbacks have ever played, a deeper pool than when Tom Brady and Peyton Manning tore up the league — even if, to this point, Brady remains the greatest ever. (Though … Mahomes is intent on catching up.)

Allen is a generational talent, with the arm of John Elway and the legs of Cam Newton — but none of the Super Bowl appearances. Why? Mahomes. Lamar Jackson is unlike any other QB we’ve ever seen, with a set of gifts so unique that it feels unfair to compare him to any of the great QBs. But again, Jackson has no Super Bowl appearances. Why? Mahomes is better. 

For Lamar, it’s an all-the-time problem. He’s 1-5 against Mahomes. For Allen, it’s a playoff problem, with a 4-1 record against Mahomes in the regular season and a 0-4 record against Mahomes in the postseason.

Those records fail to reflect the superlatives with which we could rain on Jackson and Allen.

But there’s no doubt: Mahomes is better. 

And even worse for those two QBs, he’s greater.

He proved that again in the Chiefs’ 32-29 win over the Bills at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night in the AFC Championship Game. Mahomes has won nine straight playoff games, the second-longest streak in the Super Bowl era. He has won 17 consecutive one-possession games (including the playoffs), the longest winning streak of this kind in NFL history.

There was a lot that went into this Super Bowl appearance for Mahomes and the Chiefs. Steve Spagnuolo, Kansas City’s defensive coordinator, dialed up a brilliant blitz on the Bills’ final fourth-down conversion attempt and Allen and his offensive line looked confounded. Even without any time to throw, Allen got the ball into the air and near Dalton Kincaid, who dropped the attempt.

Mahomes did nothing there, right?

The Chiefs then drained the remaining 1:54 with a huge run from Isiah Pacheco and a terrific dump-off reception from Samaje Perine, who ran 18 yards after the catch on a 17-yard reception.

Not much to see from Mahomes.

If this game happened in a vacuum, it would be easy to look at it and say Mahomes had little to do with closing it out. But you’d be ignoring the Chiefs’ go-ahead drive where Mahomes got his team into field-goal territory. You’d also be ignoring his 245 passing yards, 43 rushing yards and three touchdowns. 

But most of all, you’d be ignoring the big picture. 

Mahomes is a heartbreaker. He’s a closer. He’s a stone-cold winner. In a sense, he’s greedy. With an insatiable hunger. He has no reservations about making sure there are no Super Bowl appearances available in the AFC. They all need to be his.

Even if you’re a Chiefs fan, you can pity what follows in Mahomes’ wake. Just look at what he did to Allen, holding back tears in a postgame press conference. 

Can you imagine how frustrating it must be? Rolling the boulder up the hill (and making progress in the regular season) but waiting for it to fall on you (in the postseason)?

How can Allen find confidence that he’ll ever beat Mahomes? He’s never played better in his career. And yet he couldn’t win this game where he was afforded a perfectly good opportunity to put the Chiefs QB away. How do you pick yourself back up from that?

But this is what great QBs do. They kill the dreams of others. 

They don’t dwell on the emotions of others. They just keep collecting wins.

Mahomes is building a résumé to be the greatest of all time. Just like Brady kept Super Bowls away from Manning, Drew Brees and Philip Rivers, Mahomes is blocking his AFC peers. And that ruthlessness is how Mahomes is making his way up the list of greats.

Mahomes is second in playoff wins (17) — but he’s not far behind Brady (21). Mahomes has three Super Bowl wins and, if he wins his fourth, he would tie Joe Montana, second only to Brady (seven). If Mahomes wins in Super Bowl LIX, he’ll do something no one else has done: the three-peat. It’s hard to doubt Mahomes and the Chiefs will win — even after the Eagles put up 55 points in the NFC Championship.

There’s still work to do, however.

Mahomes must continue to build his legacy by devouring that of Allen. And Jackson. And Joe Burrow. And C.J. Stroud. (Mahomes is just getting started there.) And Brock Purdy.

And Jalen Hurts.

That’s right: Hurts is Mahomes’ next victim. It wasn’t more than two years ago when Mahomes beat Hurts in Super Bowl LVII. Can Mahomes do it again?

He’s the NFL’s omnivore, as unflappable, ruthless and consistent as Pac-Man. And with every victory and every new heartbreak for an opponent, the Chiefs QB only seems to get stronger. 

Prior to joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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