With the Super Bowl just a few days away, our yearly dose of watching Tom Brady play on the NFL’s biggest stage will continue for at least another year.
Cheering for Brady and the New England Patriots in Chief’s Kingdom is unheard of as we tend to become fans of whichever NFC team they meet in the Super Bowl — but this year is different.
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are 0-2 against Brady this season. In both opportunities, Mahomes was poised to snatch the torch out of Brady’s clutches and take the reins of the league for himself, but it wasn’t meant to be. Mahomes left no doubt that with an adequate defense both losses likely would have gone the other way.
The Los Angeles Rams and their young quarterback-coach combo of Jared Goff and Sean McVay have a chance to do what Mahomes and his coach Andy Reid were unable to do this season. With a win Sunday, the Rams will likely be dubbed the “kingslayers” of the NFL. For the sake of Mahomes’ legacy, beating Brady in a dethroning sense would propel him further than any ketchup ad or cereal box ever will.
Any Chiefs fan likely knows that Mahomes’ talent is transcendent and while Goff is talented, he is the product of McVay’s innovation on offense. Say all you want about Reid’s offense — and it is great — but it is nothing like what the Rams’ 33-year-old head coach created in Los Angeles. McVay has tapped into a new strategy in which his strict, unorthodox use of 11 personnel has left defensive schemers without answers. It’s a system that only elite defenses have had any success against.
There is no real doubt that Mahomes won’t be the best quarterback in the NFL over the next 10 years. So, why is it important that Mahomes be the one to take down Brady and Belichick? It’s not like the duo hasn’t lost a Super Bowl before, but after falling to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2018, the end of their supremacy over the league was on the horizon.
It really isn’t even about the Rams. If Goff beats Brady after Mahomes failed to do so twice, the narrative of Mahomes’ inability to win the “big games” will be more alive than ever. Even though I believe Mahomes couldn’t care less about what happens on Sunday.
Unless you just vehemently hate Brady and the Patriots, there’s no reason not to cheer for them Sunday. Win or lose, Brady will be back next year and will do everything he can to achieve his goal of playing until he’s 45. Adding another ring will only make it sweeter when Mahomes gets his next shot.