As their dynasty continues, what the Kansas City Chiefs have managed to do since making Patrick Mahomes their full-time starting quarterback is nothing short of remarkable.
Perhaps the most impressive thing is there isn't one clear-cut way to define this greatness. Mahomes himself has multiple MVPs. The team has reached four Super Bowls and won three of them. They're on a back-to-back title run and could soon become the first team to ever win three championships in a row. Their stretch of dominance in the AFC somehow isn't the first, or maybe even second, streak that gets mentioned.
On Sunday, Kansas City will play in the conference title game for the seventh year running. To this point, only the 2011-2018 New England Patriots have a longer span of such appearances. It seems like just a couple of seasons ago, it was Mahomes and Andy Reid who were attempting to knock New England off their block and jump onto one of their own.
Believe it or not, Mahomes is wrapping up year No. 8 in the league and his seventh as one of football's most-recognized talents. Despite making the abnormal seem like a walk in the park, the future Hall of Fame signal-caller acknowledges just how difficult it is to reach these heights even once.
"I have extreme appreciation just for the process of getting here," Mahomes said this week. "I talked about that with some of the younger guys. I mean, some of these guys, all they've known is Super Bowls. Obviously, that's a good problem to have, but I like to make sure they know and appreciate this moment and having this opportunity because it doesn't happen every year.
"It seems like it's happened every year here, but you don't get this opportunity to play in these games and you never know when it's going to be your last one. You have to go out there and maximize it. You do have appreciation because even when you win a Super Bowl, you start back at the bottom. You start back level with everybody, and you have to go about your process and put in that work. It definitely is a battle every single year. Every season's different. You just appreciate being in this game, and you just try to find a way to maximize it and try to get to the next one."
Mahomes's postseason accomplishments transcend his current peers. Yes, even the man on the other side of the field this Sunday, and by a huge margin. Entering championship Sunday, he has 47 career postseason touchdowns and 16 wins. With a victory over the Buffalo Bills, he can pass Joe Montana, who played 15 seasons, for career playoff triumphs. In many categories, Mahomes trails only Tom Brady and is chasing that ghost – and that ghost only – in the eyes of plenty of football fans.
It's worth arguing that this is the greatest start to a career that the sport has ever seen. Even with such tremendous success, though, Mahomes does his best to avoid growing numb to it. What the Chiefs are doing is borderline impossible to replicate.
It can all be gone in the blink of an eye, and Mahomes knows it. Don't expect Kansas City to take this opportunity for granted.
