“You come at the king, you best not miss” – an immortal, iconic quote from Omar in season one of The Wire. But it could just as easily have been uttered by Patrick Mahomes this past weekend.
This has not been a vintage season for Mahomes. At least, that’s the conventional opinion. The most decorated quarterback of his era has, by his own lofty standards, pootled along in second gear, producing a statistical profile for the campaign (3,928 yards, 26 touchdowns, 11 interceptions) that compares unfavourably to his otherworldly best.
Instead, 2024 has been the season of Lamar Jackson, of Josh Allen, of Saquon Barkley.
Those are the frontrunners for the MVP award, with Joe Burrow – who produced arguably the best individual season of them all but will not get serious consideration for the award as his Cincinnati Bengals missed the playoffs – and Jared Goff also shortlisted.
WATCH: Super Bowl LIX - Chiefs v Eagles live on DAZN for £0.99p / $0.99
Mahomes, who led the Kansas City Chiefs to a 15-1 record and a clinched the AFC one seed before sitting the final game of the regular season, did not earn consideration.
No one really disputes his place atop the Mount Olympus of current quarterbacks, but there was a sense that others – namely Allen and Jackson – had narrowed the gap to the top; that Mahomes’ supremacy might no longer be as stone-clad as before.
Yet here Mahomes stands, after securing yet another playoff victory over Allen and the Buffalo Bills, back in the Super Bowl.
And the way he drove the Chiefs to their fifth AFC Championship in his seven years as a starter suggested he wanted to prove a point or two along the way. He essentially beat Allen at his own game.
William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Much of Allen’s MVP candidacy this year was built on his electric running ability. The Bills signal caller had cut down the costly turnovers that had previously scourged his game, throwing just six picks all season.
And while Jackson (41) and Burrow (43) bested him in terms of touchdowns thrown (28), his reputation as the best short-yardage rushing quarterback in the league burgeoned his total touchdowns by an extra 12.
Mahomes is not as dynamic or powerful a runner as Allen. Or so we all thought. While the Chiefs’ defensive front throttled the Buffalo star’s ordinarily automatic QB sneak on fourth downs and limited him to just 39 rushing yards on 11 attempts, Mahomes – relatively speaking – ran riot.
The Kansas City quarterback rushed for 43 yards – a figured diminished by a couple of kneel-downs at the end of the game. Mahomes is known to be a highly effective scrambler when the time calls (read: in the playoffs). But his 11 rush attempts at Arrowhead on Sunday night included some rarely seen designed QB runs, too.
And they also included – for the first time in his career – multiple rushing touchdowns, as Mahomes ran in two scores, including one that saw him truck through Bills safety Damar Hamlin at the goal line.
Playing rivals at their own game - and beating them
And of the two quarterbacks, it was Mahomes who was the more sure-fire with his feet on fourth downs, twice rolling out to his right to pick up the yards needed to move the sticks.
It wasn’t as though Allen played badly, either. After shaking off some early nerves that almost resulted in two interceptions in the game’s opening drive, the Bills’ trigger man settled in and produced some outstanding plays when his team needed him most, including a perfect 34-yard rainbow to find Mack Hollins in the end zone as part of a fightback to draw even after trailing 21-10 in the second quarter.
He finished 22 of 34 for 237 yards and two touchdowns.
He almost pulled out a miracle heave in what would be his final play of the game, too. Trailing the Chiefs by three points deep into the fourth quarter and faced with a fourth-and-5, Allen somehow got off a catchable pass as he was being tackled by Kansas City edge rusher George Karlaftis. But tight end Dalton Kincaid was unable to haul it in.
Mahomes returned to the field, needing a couple of first downs to ice the game, wrap up a fourth playoff win over the Bills and Allen, clinch a fifth AFC title and book a place in the Super Bowl for the third year in a row. Of course, he delivered.
“I always feel for him — he’s a great player, an amazing competitor and an awesome dude who I respect so much,” Mahomes told The Athletic after the game. “I’m sorry it had to be us. But, you know, we compete, and someone has to win.”
Someone has to. And it’s usually him.
As good as Allen was, Mahomes was better. In addition to his 43 rushing yards and two touchdowns, he finished 18/26 through the air with 245 yards and a score.
He did it without a vintage night from Travis Kelce, too. The veteran tight end made just two catches on four targets, for a total of 19 yards. Instead, Mahomes’ 18 completions were spread around eight different receivers.
We are witnessing a blessed era for quarterback play in the NFL. And in case anyone needed it, Mahomes reminded us all who is still the king of them all.