History is against the Kansas City Chiefs building a dynasty
The New Orleans Saints and Drew Brees
Drew Brees arrived in New Orleans in 2006 and has turned into one of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks for his entire 14 year tenure there. Brees led the Saints to a Super Bowl win in 2009 against Peyton Manning and the Colts. His relationship with head coach Sean Payton has been the foundation that the Saints have been built on over his entire time in New Orleans.
In the ten seasons since that Super Bowl win, Brees has continued to play at a Hall of Fame level, but the Saints haven’t been able to return to the big game. The closest they came was in 2018, when they lost in the NFC Championship Game to the Los Angeles Rams in the game with the notorious missed pass interference call. In case there was any doubt on just how good Brees has been since their last Super Bowl appearance, take a look at his average numbers over the past ten seasons.
- 4,677 yards
- 34.5 touchdowns
- 70% completion rate
I reached out to Nathan Beighle of FanSided’s Saints site Who Dat Dish for some insight into why the Saints were never able to establish a dynasty despite the amazing production from their quarterback. Here is his reply:
"Brees has been incredible. The dynamic between the coaching and players is even more impressive. Sadly, we’re talking about winning three games against high-level competition. As good as Brees and Payton can be, it’s tough to control the flow of every game, making dynasties even with stability at all areas difficult."
I think Beighle brings up a great point about how easy it is for a team to find itself ousted from the playoffs if they have one down game against a good opponent. The Chiefs survived being down by double digits in all three of their postseason games on the way to their Super Bowl win and when you have Patrick Mahomes you are never really out of it, but even greats can come up short. I think their loss to the Rams also shows how one bad break can turn the tide on a team as well. Chiefs fans know this all too well after the Dee Ford offsides call that cost them a Super Bowl trip. Sometimes you need a little luck on your side to pull off a Super Bowl run.
I also think the Saints are proof that a great quarterback and head coach relationship aren’t always enough to get you there either. You can argue that Brees and Payton are every bit as good together as Mahomes and Andy Reid are, but the Saints still have fallen short of their ultimate goal in every season but one.
Finally, let’s look at the team with the quarterback that is probably the most similar to Mahomes in terms of physical talents.