Patrick Mahomes continues incredible postseason run of success

It wasn’t that long before Patrick Mahomes put up another incredible postseason performance, one that carried the Chiefs to a Super Bowl berth for the second consecutive year, that everyone was questioning whether or not the Kansas City quarterback would even play.

All week long, leading up the Chiefs game against the Buffalo Bills for the AFC Championship, Mahomes and the Chiefs faced questions of his availability coming off of a game in which he suffered both head and toe injuries. Specifically, Mahomes was hoping to clear the league’s concussion protocols while simultaneously healing from a turf toe diagnosis that might require offseason surgery.

On the other side of the Chiefs’ dominant win over the Bills, Mahomes looked like nothing was ever wrong in the first place with yet another jaw-dropping performance in the NFL playoffs.

Mahomes has won the league’s Most Valuable Player trophy before, and even this year, he put up incredible statistics once again—including 4,740 passing yards, 38 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions. But it’s in the postseason that he takes yet another step, with tremendous performances in the face of playoff-caliber defenses when the spotlight is shining the brightest.

All year long, Mahomes and the Chiefs have taken the best swings from opposing teams and still walked away with victories in almost every single week of the regular season. Yet this season was all about “running it back,” and the Chiefs have done just that after punching a ticket for Super Bowl LV.

Against the Bills, Mahomes dropped 3 passing touchdowns and 325 passing yards with a completion rate of over 76 percent. That’s good for a 127.6 passer rating (or an astounding 95.8 QBR). It’s just the latest in a nice string of postseason performances that set Mahomes apart from the rest.

In seven postseason starts, Mahomes now has 17 touchdowns against only 2 interceptions. Both of those turnovers came in last season’s Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49ers, yet the Chiefs still came out on top 31-20.

In those seven postseason games, Mahomes now has an astounding 6-1 record. He’s competed 165 passes of 252 attempts (good for a 65.5 percent completion rate) with 2,054 passing yards to go with those 17 scores. He also has another 37 rushes for 173 yards and 4 scores on the ground. That’s 21 touchdowns and 2 turnovers in 7 games.

What’s even more amazing is that Mahomes is getting demonstrably better this year. His completion rates of 70 percent and 76 percent in the first two games of the present postseason run are the two highest rates in his playoff career. He’s also taken only a single sack in this postseason after taking 14 sacks in 5 previous playoff appearances before 2020. In short, Mahomes is making better decisions at the line and learning how to minimize mistakes.

The gift for one great postseason performance is always another bigger and better test, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will represent just that on Sunday, February 7. It is there that Mahomes will play his eighth career playoff game and second consecutive Super Bowl, and given the spotlight on the matchup with Tom Brady, it will be a chance to showcase to any and all football fans just how good he really is.

Then again, there should be no question. Mahomes is a marvel in a sport filled with elite athletes. Once again he’s proved his ability to rise to the occasion at the expense of Cleveland and Buffalo. Only two more weeks until his next great performance.