Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes continues to outshine other talented players by his run of dominance.
The National Football League has seen its fair share of great players over it’s great history.
However, the NFL has rarely seen a quarterback and team dominate the league the Kansas City Chiefs have since quarterback Patrick Mahomes became the team’s starting quarterback.
As the Chiefs have continued to sustain their winning ways over nearly a decade of time, Mahomes’ greatness has overshadowed many other players who were great in their own rights.
Unfortunately, those players were not a great as Mahomes, leading to their own accomplishments often being overlooked in favor of Mahomes’.
The Chiefs have won the AFC West the past nine consecutive seasons. They are one win away from winning their third consecutive Super Bowl and becoming the first team in NFL history to do so.
The Chiefs’ team accomplishments, in addition to the many personal accomplishments of Mahomes makes it easy to forget how well some of his counterparts have played while Mahomes and the Chiefs continue to dominate.
Kyle Soppe of the Pro Football Network noted the many players Mahomes has already overshadowed with many years likely remaining in his career. Most notably, Mahomes has stifled quarterback Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills’ Super Bowl hopes numerous times.
“This franchise has never won an NFL championship, and they’ve clung to Allen as their savior, their way off of the ringless list,” Soppe said. “He’s football’s Karl Malone. He signed a decade-long deal with the franchise and, throughout it, elevated a consistently mediocre team to the level of consistent contenders.
“That is until the bogeyman came to town. [Michael] Jordan’s [Chicago] Bulls dispatched Malone’s [Utah] Jazz in consecutive NBA Finals; Utah, to this day, remains titleless. We are a long way from that being the case in Buffalo during the Allen era, but they’ve been knocked out of the postseason by the Chiefs in consecutive seasons and three of the past four. Is Allen destined to be current-day Dan Marino or Malone — all the counting numbers you could possibly ask for without ever reaching the mountaintop?”
Soppe mentioned another talented quarterback who Mahomes has impacted, albeit indirectly.
“The impact of an all-time great isn’t always felt in head-to-head matchups but sometimes by the failure to capitalize on the rare chance to scale the mountain,” Soppe said. “Like Patrick Ewing, Joe Burrow was a highly touted prep who was the first overall pick during the era of a dynasty; like the former New York Knicks great, Burrow missed out on what could be one of his very few chances. The Bengals downed the Chiefs in the 2021 AFC title game– the Los Angeles Rams beat them in the Super Bowl.
“[Ewing] is a top-30 scorer and rebounder in NBA history with his number in the rafters at Madison Square Garden. However, his sparkling résumé is missing a ring despite being one of the rare Eastern Conference greats in this era with the chance to sniff the ultimate prize.”
With the Chiefs set to face the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts could soon be added to this list.
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