Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes checks nearly every statistical box but one ahead of Super Bowl

By nearly every measure, Patrick Mahomes stands with the all-time great quarterbacks. He should win his second NFL MVP award on Thursday, and he’s playing for his second Super Bowl championship on Sunday.

Top quarterback rating of all-time? Mahomes.

Best quarterback rating in postseason play? Mahomes.

Leading Super Bowl passer rating?

Cue the sound of screeching brakes ...

Perhaps the lone statistical hard truth for Mahomes, and one that leaves the most room for improvement, is his Super Bowl passer rating. His overall postseason rating of 106.1 — derived from a formula that takes into account accuracy, yards, touchdowns and interceptions, among other categories — would be better but for his Super Bowl numbers.

The Chiefs’ two recent Super Bowls are the two lowest passer-rating games of Mahomes’ playoff career, even though the team went 1-1 in those games.

Against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV, Mahomes completed 26 of 42 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns and two interceptions, giving him a passer rating of 78.1 in the Chiefs’ 31-20 victory. Meh by Mahomes’ standards, but effective, especially with a fourth-quarter breakout by his team.

A year later, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Mahomes went 26 of 49 for 270 yards and two interceptions for a passer rating of 52.3. The Chiefs didn’t score a touchdown in their 31-9 loss to the Bucs that day.

Mahomes doesn’t bundle these games statistically, and how he played in them won’t be on his mind when the Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday in Glendale, Ariz.

“I know what it’s like to win a Super Bowl and to lose a Super Bowl,” Mahomes said. “Winning it, even though I didn’t play my best game, I came through when it counted.”

Absolutely. The Chiefs looked like they were on the way to defeat in the fourth quarter. The 49ers held a 20-10 lead and Mahomes had thrown an interception, a pass that deflected off Tyreek Hill’s hands, two straight possessions.

But he followed the error with the type of performance that defined the Chiefs in that postseason and further added to his legend. “Jet Chip Wasp,” the long completion to Hill, started a comeback that didn’t end until the Chiefs had scored three touchdowns, including scoring passes, in less than five minutes.

In then end, the Chiefs captured their first championship in 50 years. And, oh, despite his sub-optimal passer rating, Mahomes was selected the game’s MVP.

The following year, Mahomes led the Chiefs back to the Super Bowl. But there was no wild rally this time.

The tone was set early in Tampa when Hill couldn’t control what could‘ve been a touchdown and Travis Kelce dropped an easy third-down conversion.

Playing behind an injury-depleted offensive line, Mahomes spent the evening scrambling. He at last seemed to be on his way to making a memorable play when he found enough time to fling a pass as he was parallel to the ground, only to have the ball bounce off running back Darrel Williams at the goal line.

Mahomes has played 93 games in the regular season and playoffs. And that one, the Super Bowl loss to the Bucs, is still his lowest passer-rating game.

“The loss, I left everything out there,” Mahomes said. “But we lost and they feeling you have in the locker room is terrible. You’re so close to the ultimate prize. You take motivation from that and do whatever you can to have that winning feeling.”

An oddity: Those two Super Bowls are the only Chiefs playoff games that Mahomes hasn’t played at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

Entering this Super Bowl, Mahomes has been superb in two playoff games this year. In the Divisional Round win against Jacksonville, he passed for 195 yards and two touchdowns despite missing two series in the second quarter after suffering a high-ankle sprain.

Playing through the injury, Mahomes tossed two touchdown passes and threw for 326 yards against the Cincinnati Bengals in the Jan. 29 AFC Championship Game.

His overall postseason numbers truly are remarkable. Behind Mahomes in passer rating are Bart Starr and Kurt Warner. Mahomes, 10-3 in the playoffs, has played in more postseason games than Starr (who played in 10) and after Sunday will have played in just as many as Warner (14).

Mahomes’ 32 playoff touchdown passes ties for eighth with Dan Marino — and Mahomes has played in five fewer games.

With 50 more passing yards, Mahomes will jump into the postseason top 10. He’s played five NFL seasons and has won at least one playoff game in each of them.

But he relishes these opportunities. Low Super Bowl passer rating or not, he knows these moments are guaranteed.

“It feels more special the older you get,” he said. “You have the failure of not getting to this game, and you never know how many more times you’re going get the chance to be here again.”

Mahomes’ postseason passer ratings

2018

82.5: Colts, W 31-13

117.0: Patriots, L 37-31 in OT

2019

134.6: Texans, W 51-31

120.4: Titans, W 35-24

78.1: 49ers, W 31-20

2020

106.9: Browns, W 22-17

127.5: Bills, W 38-24

52.3: Buccaneers, L 31-9

2021

138.2: Steelers, W 42-21

123.1: Bills, W 42-36 in OT

91.3: Bengals, L 27-24 in OT

2022

112.5: Jaguars, W 27-20

105.4: Bengals, W 23-30