What’s gonna be interesting next season is if he’s outclassed statistically by his peers for the third regular season in a row and doesn’t make the SB.
I could see 11-6 and a divisional round exit. That will open up some interesting convos
This is gonna happen. Cats keep blowing it off, but I'm telling yall, Mahomes has benefitted greatly from being older and healthier than majority of his peers...
He gonna have to change his playstyle, because the physical way he plays won't last during his 30s. And all these young guys are getting older and more experienced, all these guys who've lost time and experience to injury (Lamar, Burrow), could remain healthier...
Historically, odds are that this was the death knell for this version of KC. They can still revamp and come back stronger later, we saw the 2010s Patriots do that. But it took awhile and other teams were also winning during that time...
This version of the Chiefs is finito and not just next year, as we see everyone age and other guys start winning, its going to reframe a context about Mahomes. Its gonna happen...
Mahomes was a wunderkind who came in and set The League ablaze------>but he did it in a sweet spot where all the top QBs were aging out, and no major threat from young guys consustently appeared. We thought Deshaun would be something, he fizzled out. Dak and Goff had flashes, but were inconsistent (until Goff's recent resurgence). All the other young QBs were a bunch of Blake Bortles and Baker Mayfield's (before his own recent resurgence) and Jimmy G's and Mac Jones and Derek Carr's and on and on, a bunch of mid young QBs...
Yes Burrow and Lamar came along but both dealt with multiple lost seasons to injury. Allen was the only CONSISTENT young guy threat during Mahomes' entrance, and well, besides the 13-second game, Allen can't make a winning play vs KC with the game on the line to save his life...
All the old guys were, frankly, getting old and washed. You had Stafford in Detroit being mid like he always was. But then you had Wilson and Rivers and Reothlisberger and Brees and, for you Eli Stans, Eli and all these old QBs, besides Brady and Rodgers, clearly transitioning into injuries and washed status while Mahomes made his ascent...
Comparatively speaking, Mahomes was right place right time, from 2018 to 2022, thats a 5-year stretch that he won 2 of his 3 titles in. 3 of his 5 Super Bowl appearances. It was a window of old QBs washing out, newcomers either being inconsistent or injury prone or just simply.....TOO YOUNG AND INEXPERIENCED.
This was the Jordan/Bulls 90s run. All the better, older players of the NBA, and better teams, aged out. Jordan's peers were really good but there was no real threat at the wing, no challenger to him. No Kawhi's or Durants around. No Bird or Magic or apex Celtics and Lakers around. No Pistons around. Etc...
The 2018-24 Chiefs just had the 90s Bulls run, in terms of getting hot at the right time. Now though, the script is flipping. There are real challengers at QB, there's a guy in this era in Lamar Jackson, who football people keep telling us with their votes, they think is as good as Mahomes, he just doesn't have the playoff consistency...
There are other QBs maturing into their primes. Baker is a legit Top 10 QB today and TB is a viable threat. This mf was not even a Top 20 guy before last season. There's a guy in Washington who just had the most dominant rookie year ever. In his own division we learned that Nix is really a pro QB and the Paton/Payton combo is an elite duo in team construction and roster building...
I wanna be clear, the Chiefs will always be a threat with Mahomes in his prime, he's that great, as was Brady, as was Manning, etc. But that window of opportune dominance is closed for now, he gone have to get it out the mud for real. No more super old QBs anymore besides Rodgers, Stafford, and Wilson, and those guys arent threats. But there are a grip of young guys who are entering their prime soon...
That Chiefs, 90s Bulls run is done...
No it won't. Brady didn't win for a whole decade and is still the GOAT. Yall in here talking like this man is in his mid 30s already.
Brady wasn't considered the GOAT during the drought though, so it's fair play to say Mahomes' road to that designation is far and wide...