From ‘broken’ to ‘quarterback king’: How talk about KC Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes changed

Since he became the Chiefs’ starting quarterback in 2018, Patrick Mahomes often has provided fodder for sports talk show hosts.

For the first three seasons in the NFL, that chatter was about Mahomes’ greatness and where he belonged in the pantheon of the best quarterbacks in league history.

Then came a game against the Chargers in late September. and the script began to change. A week after an ill-advised pass was intercepted in a loss at Baltimore, Mahomes threw two picks as the Chargers upset the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.

In October, Mahomes was picked off twice by the Bills, who won 38-20 at Arrowhead. Two weeks later, he threw an interception and lost a fumble in a 27-3 loss to the Titans in Nashville.

The talking heads were suddenly asking if opposing teams had “figured out” Mahomes by blitzing less and using the same two-deep safety shell that had worked for the Buccaneers in their 31-9 win in Super Bowl LV.

“Patrick Mahomes is broken,” former NFL safety/ESPN analyst Ryan Clark in October. “And he’s broken because he’s the same as he’s always been, but that’s no longer good enough. It’s time for Patrick Mahomes to pivot, it’s time for Patrick Mahomes to play football in a different way.”

Jeff Chadiha wrote in early November about Mahomes struggles.

“He’s literally playing the worst football of his career. He’s missing open receivers, failing to take opportunities for checkdowns when they arise and, most importantly, looking as joyless as he’s ever appeared on a football field at this level,” Chadiha wrote. “The Chiefs have been good enough to survive lately with him slumping. The reality is, they aren’t going to beat the best teams in the league unless their quarterback starts performing at a high level again.”

ESPN’s Max Kellerman was baffled by Mahomes’ troubles, which included throwing an interception in seven straight games.

“That guy suddenly looks confused by defenses. Let’s start there,” Kellerman said. “He to me looks confused by defenses as like he’s not sure where to go, and then inaccurate with the football compared to his standard. So some have speculated maybe his toe is bothering him. Maybe there’s something physical that’s messing with him mechanically. But it’s bizarre I can’t remember anything quite like it. Is he just in a slump?”

Perhaps it was merely a slump, because late in the season Mahomes became, well, Mahomes.

Stout NFL playoff rating

Over the last five regular-season games, Mahomes completed 70.6% of his passes for 1,455 yards, 12 touchdowns and just one interception. That worked out to a 114.5 quarterback rating.

In the two postseason games, Mahomes has taken it up another notch, completing 75.9% of passes for 782 yards, eight touchdowns and one interception. His quarterback rating in the playoffs is 131.7.

Next Gen Stats noted the Bills defense used two-deep safety shells on 92% of plays Sunday. While Mahomes didn’t throw a deep pass for the 1st time in his career, Next Gen said, he was 29 of 38 for 344 yards and two touchdowns when facing a two-high alignment.

Coach Andy Reid was asked Wednesday about Mahomes’ adjustments to the two-deep shell defenses have been using.

“He’s done a good job with it. We were seeing a little bit more man beforehand when he was young, and now we’re seeing zones with man mixed in,” Reid said. “This group here does everything, so you can’t go in and just go, ‘All right, they’re going to play shell,’ and go with it.

“They’ve got a bunch of shell coverages, they’ve got single-safety middle coverages, a handful of zone ones and a handful of man ones. If you really looked at it, that’s what teams were doing, blending things in and mixing them. It was a matter of just sorting it out. He did a nice job.”

New narrative now

A funny thing has happened. All the talk of Mahomes’ woes seem to have been forgotten as national media members have used no shortage of superlatives to describe his performance against Buffalo.

Kevin Patra of NFL.com said Mahomes’ performance against the Bills showed he was the “quarterback king.”

“Mahomes threw from all platforms, making jaw-dropping throws look effortless, whether dropping sidearm or making pinpoint passes under pressure,” Patra wrote. “The QB looked spry using his legs, leading the Chiefs with 69 rushing yards and a diving TD.

“He was nearly flawless from start to finish, dicing up the No. 1 defense in the NFL to the tune of 378 yards and three TDs. Unlike Week 5’s loss to Buffalo, Mahomes didn’t have a single turnover, and nary threw a bad pass. Mahomes spearheaded four straight scoring drives in the crucible of the fourth quarter and OT to prove, once again, he’s the quarterback king.”

Speaking on “Good Morning Football,” the NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo said Mahomes overcoming the early struggles will help the Chiefs in the future.

“For Patrick Mahomes this year, the way things started and the mistakes he made,” Garafolo said, “this was not the perfect season, this was not thrashing opponents from the start and being well out in front. They had to come from behind.

“For him to get this team to the (cusp of) the Super Bowl, now in the future when you’ve got those September where things aren’t clicking, your teammates are going to look at you Patrick Mahomes and say, ‘OK, that’s cool. We’re going to figure it out. We’re good. We don’t have to be that most dominant team from the jump.’ So that’s the most important thing when I look at Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs 2021 season.”