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Here are two things we know as we get ready to watch the Bucs and Chiefs square off a week from Sunday in Super Bowl 55: Tom Brady is the GOAT and Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL right now.
Those facts and storylines are what makes this upcoming game in Tampa so darn intriguing.
But you know what? We might even be underselling Mahomes and how good he already is in his career, which is easy to do because he just continues to make everything look so easy.
I say that because I came across this stat after Sunday’s win and it blew my mind. Do you know what Mahomes’ record is in the last 26 games that he has started?
25-1.
25-1!
That’s bonkers. Mahomes is just the third QB in NFL history – joining Tom Brady (2003-04) and Jim McMahon (1985-87) – to do that and right now it feels like it might be a while before he suffers his next loss.
During this run he has won five playoff games, including a Super Bowl, and the only loss he suffered came at home to the Raiders, of all teams. Mahomes sat out the Chiefs’ Week 17 loss to the Chargers earlier this month.
The Chiefs, of course, are now 3.5 favorites to beat Brady and the Bucs and it feels to me like that spread might be a bit of a steal for those who want to wager on Mahomes.
Sure, the Bucs’ defense has been one of the best in the league and beat Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers to get here, but now they face Mahomes, who is just different, even from those two legendary QBs.
And by different I mean unbelievable.
Mahomes is so good he can fall behind in playoff games, like he did early against the Bills on Sunday, and there’s never any doubt what’s going to happen — the Chiefs are going to storm back in a flurry of TDs and run away with the game. That’s how they won the Super Bowl last year, if you remember.
The 25-1 record only shows how dominant Mahomes has been thus far in a stunning NFL career that has seen him play in three straight conference championships and now two straight Super Bowls. Oh, and he’s done all that while being 25 years old or younger.
During that time he has never seems rattled.
He has never seemed to be out of a game.
And he has rarely lost.
Which should continue in Tampa.
Quick hits: Brady’s sweet moment with his son… Should Rodgers leave Green Bay?… Bills fan do something awesome for team… And more.
– Speaking of Brady, this mic’d up moment with his son after Sunday’s win is pretty great.
– Should Aaron Rodgers leave the Packers? Steven Ruiz debates both possible answers to that question.
– Lots of Bills fans showed up at the airport in freezing cold temps to welcome home their team.
– My pal Charles Curtis explained why the GameStop stock went nuts yesterday.
– The WWE Network is heading to NBC’s Peacock. Here are the details.