Ranking every Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterback since 1990

It’s an interesting exercise to think about the history of the Kansas City Chiefs at quarterback. These days, no other team in the entire NFL is as set at the position as the Chiefs, and unless something horrible happens, it’s going to stay that way for quite some time. An entire generation will watch the Chiefs and think of QB supremacy—what a beautiful sight!

The thing is, longtime Chiefs fans know the opposite feeling as well. They know what it’s like to watch one veteran reclamation after another achieve poor to middling results with occasional bursts of playoff hopes during mostly overlooked, mediocre stretches of team history.

Even just before Andy Reid arrived as head coach a decade ago, the Chiefs were mired in misery in the single most depressing stretch in team history, anchored by a two-win season in 2012, the early firing of Todd Haley as head coach, the lack of accountability for GM Scott Pioli, and the murder/suicide of Jovan Belcher. When fans are paying for planes to deliver messages asking for change, you know things have reached a low point.

With such a spectrum of quarterbacks in recent team history, we thought we’d have some fun during this offseason and rank every Chiefs quarterback since 1990 (because seriously, it was all quite unmemorable before that for quite some time). And let’s start with the best because A.) There are no surprises there, and B.) It feels like proper form to lead with the good news first.

1. Patrick Mahomes (2017 to present)

There can’t be any question as to who tops this list, and that’s because Patrick Mahomes would top every list for every NFL team except the New England Patriots. Ever since Mahomes entered the league in 2017, but especially after he took over the starting quarterback role in 2018, he’s been absolutely unstoppable—an instant legend who is breaking waves of new records every year.

It’s very likely that we’re all watching the greatest quarterback who will ever play in a Chiefs uniform, no matter how much longer the NFL perseveres as a sport or K.C. exists as a franchise. That makes this era—one filled with Most Valuable Player Awards, Super Bowl appearances, and winning 4 of every 5 games—a golden one for the Chiefs Kingdom. 

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