Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs lost the Super Bowl and with how people have been acting over the past few days, it feels like everyone forgot what Mahomes has already done in the league. Prior to the Super Bowl 59 loss, which was an embarrassing loss no doubt, Mahomes had played in four Super Bowls and won three of them, including the last two.
Mahomes and the Chiefs were looking to win three straight Super Bowls and while that didn't happen, people are criticizing Mahomes as if he hadn't previously won three titles before the age of 29. Yes, Mahomes played poorly in the Super Bowl defeat and we need to pump the brakes on him being the G.O.A.T. for the time being but to pile on the guy as if he's trash is ridiculous.
Fortunately, there are logical observers out there and former Chiefs offensive lineman Mitch Schwartz is one of them. Schwartz jumped to his former quarterback's defense on Tuesday night, pointing out that the criticism of Mahomes is obnoxious.
"Someone is going to have to explain to me how a 29 year old's legacy is tarnished because after the best 7 year start to a career and getting closer than anyone in history to winning 3 straight Super Bowls, one bad game from basically the entire team diminishes that legacy?"
Mitch Schwartz can't believe the criticism Patrick Mahomes is facing
Schwartz continued by pointing out "mistakes" from Tom Brady's career, mentioning the Super Bowl loss in 2008 and missing the playoffs altogether.
"Brady had a 16-0 team and lost to a 10-6 team. Missed the playoffs his 2nd year starting. Lost multiple playoff games to teams who threw for less than 100 yards but that doesn't matter [because] it wasn't in the Super Bowl?"
Recency bias has definitely reared its ugly head when it comes to Mahomes and Brady but it's also worth noting that for the last two years, people haven't been able to truly take shots at Mahomes. Now that he not only lost the Super Bowl but lost with an atrocious performance, people are enjoying the opportunity of piling on.
Schwartz wasn't finished with his rant, however.
"The dynamic has gotten very weird where you not only have to win #Ringz but you also get docked this bad for a Super Bowl loss when you're doing unprecedented things before the age of 30. Brady is the most accomplished QB ever, it's going to take years to compare their résumés."
Schwartz is absolutely correct with everything he said here and it was awesome to see someone finally talking some sense. Mahomes played poorly in the Super Bowl but him even being there in the first place was historic. Unfortunately, we're going to have to hear about this performance and how "Mahomes isn't as good as everyone thought he was" for a long time to come.