Ex-Broncos star defends Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and his legacy after Super Bowl LIX loss
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ 30th birthday is in September, but judging by the social-media reaction to the Chiefs’ loss in Super Bowl LIX, you’d think his career achievements were done.
Fans piled on Mahomes for his poor performance in the Chiefs’ 40-22 loss to the Eagles on Sunday in the Caesars Superdome. It was the second time a Mahomes-led Chiefs team has lost by double-digits in a Super Bowl.
That was good enough for some fans to say Mahomes isn’t that great or will never reach Tom Brady’s status as the best quarterback in NFL history.
Never mind that Brady and the Patriots missed the playoffs completely in 2002 and lost by two touchdowns in a Divisional Round playoff game against the Broncos in 2005. Mahomes has never lost in that round of the playoffs.
Joe Montana won four Super Bowl championships, but he also threw a pair of interceptions in San Francisco’s 49-3 loss to the Giants in a Divisional Round playoff game in 1987. Montana left that game with an injury.
In 1990, the Broncos finished 5-11 and missed the playoffs with John Elway starting each game. Elway also started Super Bowl XXIV, which Denver lost 55-10 to the 49ers. In 2003, Peyton Manning threw a pair of interceptions as the Colts lost 41-0 to the Jets in a playoff game.
That short trip down memory lane serves to remind us that even Hall of Fame quarterbacks can have a bad day in a postseason game.
As fans piled on Mahomes on social media, former Broncos All-Pro cornerback Chris Harris spoke out in defense of the Chiefs star.
“How you gonna say @PatrickMahomes not the Goat just for one bad game,” Harris wrote on X. “It be the guys that never played him making this stuff up .”
Indeed, one game does not determine a player’s GOAT status.
Harris, who played for the KU Jayhawks and later was an All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler with Denver, triggered some Broncos fans, who fired back on X.
This story was originally published February 11, 2025 at 8:38 AM.
