5 times Patrick Mahomes struggled to deliver under pressure
Patrick Mahomes has amassed the makings of an NFL Hall of Fame career throughout his five seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, but he's not had a perfect run.
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Though Mahomes has collected an NFL MVP, a Super Bowl MVP, and helped bring his team the Lombardi trophy in just his third season as a starter, he also has a slew of doubters questioning whether he is genuinely worth half a billion dollars.
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With the past two years ending in a progressively more disappointing fashion than the one before it, the Chiefs are in more danger than ever before to take a significant step back. The AFC West now has Russell Wilson leading the Broncos and burgeoning Chargers/Raiders teams, proving to be postseason hopefuls.
Can Mahomes rise to the occasion or continue faltering as he has the past two seasons?
Five times Patrick Mahomes struggled to deliver under pressure
#1 - AFC Championship game vs. Cincinnati Bengals, 1/30/22
Mahomes had a spectacular first half during the first half of the AFC Championship game this past January. Still, he couldn't finish the job in the second half and overtime, leading to Joe Burrow garnering Tom Brady comparisons for the comeback effort.
On the flip side of the coin, Mahomes' stock fell after throwing an interception in the second half and OT. Mahomes has revealed that the AFC Championship loss still stings:
"I mean, it still hurts. I mean, you want to be in that Super Bowl, but you enjoy this. It's an honor to be in the Pro Bowl and so to be able to be in the Pro Bowl with a lot of my teammates, seeing their families, it's a good way to kinda cap off the season."
Mahomes is still in the top tier of QBs, but many project Josh Allen and the Bills to surpass Kansas City in the AFC this coming season.
#2 - Week 5 vs. Buffalo Bills, 10/10/21
While the Chiefs beat the Bills during the AFC Divisional Round in one of the all-time terrific postseason contests, that was not the case during Week 5 of the 2021 season.
Mahomes threw two interceptions and had 21 incompletions against Buffalo during a critical early-season victory for the Bills. The matchup doubled as a crushing loss for KC that gave them a losing record through five weeks of the NFL season.
#3 - Super Bowl LV vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2/7/21
Perhaps Patrick Mahomes' worst singular performance as a professional quarterback was his subpar Super Bowl LV effort against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Chiefs' offensive line had Mahomes scrambling the entire game, allowing him to be sacked three times and hit eight times. Still, a 53 percent completion rate with two INTs and no TDs is a dud for a former NFL MVP in a championship game setting regardless.
#4 - Week 5 vs. Las Vegas Raiders, 10/11/20
Week 5 has been the Achilles heel for Patrick Mahomes the past two seasons, with the 2020 pandemic season's Week 5 seeing Mahomes get outdueled by Derek Carr at home.
In the fourth quarter, the Chiefs were down 40-24 and came up short in their comeback bid. Both Carr and Mahomes threw for over 340 yards, but Carr threw more efficiently and had three TDs to Mahomes' two.
#5 - Week 11 vs. Los Angeles Rams, 11/19/18
Patrick Mahomes broke out during the 2018 season, avoiding anything even remotely resembling a sophomore slump. It was his first season as the full-time starter for the Chiefs, and he answered with 50 TDs, 12 wins, and an NFL MVP award.
Only twice in his career has Mahomes ever thrown more than two interceptions, and only once was that in a loss. Heading into the Chiefs' bye week in 2018, the Los Angeles Rams picked him off three times en route to a Week 11 loss.