People have been proclaiming Mahomes the best QB ever, and claiming he is already the GOAT. They point to his career accolades, clutch factor, and physical standpoint.
People have this idea that Mahomes is this amazing, gotta-have-it-all, big game savant that is uniquely special and gifted. That he is better than his peers.
But those ideas are not really sound or accurate. Don’t get the wrong idea; Mahomes is a not a bad QB by any means.
But the reality is that Mahomes is not what you think he is. What people praise him for – his lightning quick processing, decision-making, his carefulness with the football, and big-time clutch performances – is not actually real.
It’s other factors in the Chiefs organization and the league as a whole that are doing the work for him. It’s manufactured and augmented. Mahomes is just a regular hall of fame talent whose greatness is manufactured, and whose legacy is being inflated by his scheme, Travis Kelce, and verifiably having more calls go in his favor in playoff games.
The Chiefs Organization
The Scheme
The Chiefs, from the very start of Mahomes’s career, designed the offense around limiting the amount of tight window throws.
The Chiefs run a large percentage of Run-Pass-Options (RPOs) – the 2nd most in the league according to PFF. For those who don’t know, RPOs are plays where the QB can choose to hand off the ball to the running back or throw to a receiver. While the QB has to decide which is the right read to make, it still largely simplifies the offense for the QB by manipulating the defense. There is a reason why teams led by rookies like the Denver Broncos with Bo Nix and the Commanders with Jaden Daniels ran it.
The Chiefs offense leads the league in screen passes, throws under 20 yards, throws behind line of scrimmage, with Kelce getting open in zone all the time.
His deep ball accuracy isn’t very good. He is bottom 5 in completion percentage on throws over 20 yards. And this isn’t something to blame on the receiving corps, as the Chiefs receivers did not drop at the same rate they did the year before.
After all, Patrick Mahomes literally admitted he didn’t know how to read defenses during his first MVP season.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=893581731099691
So as a result… what we think is Mahomes learning to “play more like Brady” is really the Chiefs offense dumbing things down for him to make it easier for him.
Travis Kelce
Travis Kelce allows Mahomes to get away with not having to consistently process the defense because of how often Kelce gets open in zone coverage.
Much of Travis Kelce’s routes are ad-libbed, meaning that Mahomes can simply wait for Kelce to read the defense, and throw to him, rather than having to do the hard work of reading it himself.
It’s to a point where there have been plays that Travis Kelce will literally point to the open receiver to help Pat.
This is quite literally opposite of Brady and Gronk… where Gronkowski admits to not always knowing the offense
So as a result... what we think is Mahomes attacking zone coverage effectively and processing the defense well, is really just Travis Kelce reading the defense for him.
The League
The Referees
The Chiefs objectively have help from the refs. This is not biased memories or bitter fans.
The Chiefs have had a disproportionate amount of playoff games where they more calls in their favor than their opponent.
They also have more 3rd down penalty calls in their favor as well.
These have massive ramifications, as many of the Chiefs playoff games have been very close. And a very blatant example can be found in Super Bowl 57.
This call quite literally decided the game – Mahomes didn’t have to throw an accurate pass to win the game – the ball was literally uncatchable. Mahomes didn’t have to sit in agony, wondering if his defense would give up a game-winning touchdown. Mahomes didn’t even have to burn out the clock fully.
So as a result…
What we see with Mahomes’s playoff record is also being inflated certifiably.
The Buffalo Bills
The Bills defense is perpetually injured and banged up, and left leaving guys open against Mahomes, constantly.
This has allowed Mahomes to get extra playoff wins.
This may seem petty, but look at it like this:
Everytime in the playoffs that the Chiefs have beaten the Bills, the Chiefs offense has had one of their worst offensive outputs of the season the next week. In fact, they lost 3 out of those 4 games, getting blown out twice (2020 against the Buccaneers, and 2024 against the Eagles).
So as a result, even the narrative that Mahomes is outplaying Allen … let alone that he is an elite playoff performer, is heavily skewed by beating up on the same injured opponent.
Verdict
Mahomes plays in an offense that schemes up short throws almost more than any team in the league. This limits the amount of times he has to make difficult throws downfield – which is important since Mahomes has been inaccurate throwing downfield. And this was a trend that started even when he still had Tyreek Hill, which means you can’t blame his receivers for this.
He has a player in Travis Kelce that often improvises on his routes, making Mahomes’s job easier, since he does not have to even really understand what defensive coverage the opposing team is using to stop him. He can just run around and see what Kelce does.
All this combines to protect Mahomes from his flaws, elevate his strengths, and even bail him out.
In short, Mahomes isn’t a bad QB. He is still a Hall of Famer. What he has accomplished has been marvelous.
But his reputation is over-inflated. What we think are Mahomes’s strengths, are really a product of his support.
But he is nowhere near the best QB ever, and his success has been inflated by being in the right place at the right time. On the field, he really isn’t better than his peers from a skill-standpoint – the last time Mahomes was truly the best QB league was at best 2022, but if you break it down, really more like 2020 ish.
All i know is, there’s no QB id rather have with the ball last than Mahomes though. Hes undeniable in the clutch.