What Mahomes told teammates about his 10-count, and why he did it (beyond the obvious)
Patrick Mahomes does not need his fingers to count to 10. The touchdown he threw to Travis Kelce was not his 10th of the season, it did not go for 10 yards, and it did not give the Chiefs 10 points or 10 wins or 10 slabs of ribs. It was not thrown on the 10th of the month.
But that’s what he did, as he jogged toward the sideline. He counted. First with his right hand — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Then with his left — 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
Ten just happens to match the position in which he was selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft, and he just happened to do it during a 26-3 blowout win here over the Chicago Bears, who just happened to select fellow quarterback Mitchell Trubisky with the second pick of that draft.
As Mahomes counted, the digit he used for the No. 2 pick was his middle finger.
That, of course is a hilariously poetic coincidence.
But the rest is not, no matter what Mahomes said about it afterward.
“Yeah, I mean honestly, I was just out there having fun,” he said at one point.
“I don’t think about celebrations and stuff like that,” he said at another.
“I don’t know if there was necessarily a meaning,” he said later.
We can’t know exactly why Mahomes wouldn’t acknowledge the obvious. Maybe he felt bad about it, if not the literal act then the fact that it was caught on camera, broadcast nationally in a network standalone primetime game. Mahomes and Trubisky are friendly. Mahomes respects Bears coach Matt Nagy, who was the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator during Mahomes’ rookie season.
Mahomes is meticulous about his public presentation, from the suits he wears for his postgame interviews (and changes out of immediately after) to his social media and endorsements and everything else. He’s never been known as a trash talker or one to put down another player. Maybe he regretted that the celebration being caught on camera might send that message.
But the message was received, because Mahomes delivered it. First with his fingers, and then with his words to a few teammates on the sideline.
One of them was receiver Sammy Watkins, who I approached in the locker room.
“No, I didn’t see it, but he explained it to us,” Watkins said.
A pause.
“Was it inappropriate?”
No, I told him. I thought it was funny. But I wanted to hear what Mahomes told them about it.
“When he scored,” Watkins said, “he thought it, like, ‘10th pick? I think they drafted the other guy with the second pick or something like that?’ Just kind of rubbing it in his face a little bit.
“It’s funny, man. (Expletive), the way he’s playing he should’ve been drafted first. He’s up there with (New England Patriots quarterback Tom) Brady. We can put him in that conversation.”
Players have overcome much more disrespect than being selected 10th in a draft, but the chip-on-the-shoulder thing is a time-honored trope in sports. Mahomes could have gone to that playbook with that explanation.
This is connecting dots, and leaning on some things we’ve learned from writing and reporting about Mahomes these few years. But he almost certainly is proud that he won the MVP a year after teams (it wasn’t just the Bears) thought someone else in his own draft class was better.
Also, he has become the undisputed voice and pulse of that Chiefs locker room. He is conscious that his energy becomes his teammates’ energy, and that what he projects becomes what his team believes. What he does, his teammates will rally around.
That makes sense, right?
How could he not think it’s silly that a quarterback many Bears fans want replaced was taken ahead of him? And isn’t part of his job to motivate his teammates?
At least in that way the count-to-10 celebration was an unqualified success. And not just with Watkins.
“I think that was him letting people know, ‘I do this,’” said Chiefs running back Damien Williams, who exchanged a high-five with Mahomes mid-count.
“Awesome,” said offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz, after laughing when he heard about the celebration.
“He’s playing with championship swagger,” said defensive teammate Frank Clark.
Being a leader is about more than having superhuman talent and unleashing the occasional edgy celebration, of course. Mahomes began to earn that respect from the beginning. He knew his new teammates — almost all of them older than himself, many with families — would notice whether the new guy felt entitled by his draft status or was willing to work.
Mahomes said little that first year, showing up early and learning from and trying to help then-starting Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith. That’s the base of the respect he has in the locker room, and it lifted like a rocket ship when he was the AFC player of the week in each of his first two games and eventually the MVP last season.
Players know when their peers are about substance or flash, in other words, and at the moment Mahomes is actually showing both — flashy plays that have substantive impact.
“I haven’t seen him in this space since last year,” Watkins said. “His energy is contagious. We’re just feeding off this guy. He’s putting us in place, telling us what to do, and I like it. I like it. I like quarterbacks who own it, and that’s what he’s doing.”
“He stays (at the practice facility) until 7 or 8 o’clock, then goes home, and it’s just to chill with his girlfriend. That’s what you call special. The age he’s at, he could be partying, and women, and going crazy. But he’s focused and locked in.”
It’s an interesting time for Mahomes to have his first obvious trash-talking moment. It’s obvious why Soldier Field and the city of Chicago brought it out of him — the whole week leading up to Sunday’s game became a re-litigation of the 2017 draft for many — but there has to be more to it.
We’ve just never seen something like that from Mahomes. He’s confident, yes, and plays with what Denver coach Vic Fangio called “an athletic arrogance.” But this is the first time he’s been shown what could reasonably be interpreted as talking smack to an opponent.
He wouldn’t do that if he wasn’t feeling his best, in other words.
And that’s the takeaway here, even more than his bizarre explanation afterward. Mahomes is feeling his best, and for the first time in his career has a defense he can trust. We haven’t seen this yet.
This story was originally published December 23, 2019 at 12:37 AM.