BALTIMORE — You can drop him down in a riotous, hostile stadium, deafening venom exploding through the earholes of his helmet.
Match him up in the AFC Championship game with the MVP of the league and the best defense in the league, and he will yawn and play the game with a child’s joy that has never left him and have the time of his life.
He will always want the ball in his hands, especially when it is the fourth quarter and his franchise and his city and his coaches and teammates are depending on him, and they know that they can all count on him to do wondrous things with it.
It’s Patrick Mahomes’ world and we’re just living in it.
Mahomes (30-for-39, 241 yards, 1 TD), the 17-10 winner over Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, silenced M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday and will defend his Super Bowl 57 crown against the NFC Championship game winner Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.
Which means Chasing Tom Brady is on.
Which means that the Dynasty lives.
Another Lombardi Trophy would give Mahomes three. Four fewer than Brady, yes. Catching Brady is a long shot, yes. But Mahomes is only 28. He is the only quarterback alive who has this chance.
He looked much more like the MVP of the league than Lamar Jackson (20-for-37, 272 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 8-54 rushing) did, that’s for sure.
Patrick Mahomes #15 and Chris Jones #95 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrate after a 17-10 victory against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.Getty Images
Tom Brady won his final Super Bowl with the BuccaneersGetty Images
He plunged the dagger into the heart of Baltimore just before the two-minute warning, third-and-9 at his 46, the Ravens out of timeouts, and Mahomes fearlessly and effortlessly lobbing one downfield for Marquez Valdes-Scantling for 32 yards.
It was over.
Patrick Mahomes was going to his fourth Super Bowl.
“He’s the best ever,” Valdes-Scantling said.
This is what Mahomes does: he makes everyone who coaches him and plays alongside him believe they cannot lose.
“He’s the best,” Chiefs GM Brett Veach said. “It’s hard to describe a player like him. He gives everyone that belief and hope that it doesn’t matter what the odds are and where we’re playing and where we’re going, if we have 15 under center we have a shot.”
And it never gets old for Patrick Mahomes. He began skipping downfield towards Valdes-Scantling, looking to the sideline and gesticulating to his jubilant teammates, punching the air with his right fist.
“You don’t take it for granted either,” Mahomes said. “You never know how many you’re gonna get to, or if you’re gonna get to any. It really is special. I told them, ‘The job’s not done.’ Our job now is to prepare ourself to play a good football team in the Super Bowl and try and get that ring.”
Mahomes arguably displayed a better connection with Travis Kelce (11-116-1 TD) than his tight end has with Taylor Swift, who was good for a postgame hug and kiss on the field for her beau.
Mahomes did not score in the second half and did not need to. His defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was putting on his own clinic.
“Don’t turn the ball over and let’s go win a football game,” Mahomes said.
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are heading back to the Super Bowl.AP
Mahomes was the one who played an error-free game. Jackson was the one who lost a fumble and threw an end-zone interception into triple coverage with 6:45 remaining. Jackson threatened to cut his deficit to 17-14 following a 54-yard bomb to Zay Flowers in the rain, but L’Jarious Sneed forced a Flowers fumble at the 1 that Trent McDuffie recovered in the end zone for a touchback.
“If you don’t want to be around Pat you don’t want to win,” Rashee Rice said.
On the night the Ravens traded back into the bottom of the first round to draft him, Lamar Jackson said this on stage to interviewer Deion Sanders:
Patrick Mahomes celebrates during the Chiefs’s win over the Ravens on Sunday.AP
“They’re gonna get a Super Bowl out of me. Believe that. Believe that.”
Lamar Jackson couldn’t make a believer out of Patrick Mahomes.
