The High Council of Inevitable Judges Patrick Mahomes. . .
And asks: Is he good enough to be one of us?
FreeForAll Monday judges Mahomes’ qualifications for rare greatness.
Inevitable
*
He just is. I have no better explanation than that. I’m not sure anyone does. Patrick Mahomes is among the most Inevitable athletes on Earth. Ever.
After Sunday night, he’s at the window of rare greatness, nose pressed against the glass. The High Council of Inevitable eyes him studiously.
”What do you think?’’ Tom Brady says.
Michael Jordan fires up a cigar, opens the box that contains his six championship rings and stares at them intently, seeking wisdom. “Not yet,’’ says Michael.
Wayne Gretzky asks when it might be time. What more must Mahomes achieve? How will we know when to open our door?
“One more,’’ Muhammad Ali decides. Who’s to argue with the Greatest of All Time?
Tiger Woods agrees. Joe Montana takes a deep pull from a glass of pinot noir. “Three rings by age 28. He has time,’’ says Joe Cool.
*
The answer to everything Sunday night in the neon desert was “Mahomes.’’
Chiefs win in overtime after trailing most of the game? Mahomes.
Chiefs get a huge break when a punt bounces off the back of a 49ers foot and KC recovers, then scores immediately to make it 13-10, KC, late in the 3rd? Mahomes.
San Francisco rookie kicker Jake Moody bombs a couple field goals of 50-plus yards, then line-drives an extra point that is blocked, leaving the Chiefs just three points down as winning time approached? Mahomes.
Do you have a better explanation?
That last drive was inevitable. Everyone knew it, including the Niners, who settled for a field goal on their only possession in OT. After that, TV showed the faces of 49ers George Kittle and Chistian McCaffrey. They looked like life without parole.
Mahomes went 8-for-8 on the 75-yard, 13-play drive. On a do-or-die 4th-and-1, he called his own number and ran for 8 yards. On 3rd-and-1 from the SF 32, he ran for 19.
By then, anything less than a game-winning TD would have messed with the natural order of the universe. Today, we’d have witnessed the sun rising in the west and boulders rolling uphill. Instead, we saw Mahomes hit Mecole Hardman for a 3-yard touchdown and universal chaos was avoided for another day.
Pity the Niners, who dominated the first half and led most of the game and would have beaten any other team. Ultimately, they committed two cardinal sins. They didn’t score a TD to begin OT and they let Mahomes get the last possession. That’s like letting John Wayne get the last bullet, pilgrim.
How does someone come to be a Patrick Mahomes or a Tom Brady or a Tiger Woods? What’s the formula, the deus ex machina, that produces these guys? Talent, of course. But lots of athletes possess ordinary greatness. They don’t enter the Rare Greatness Portal.
Opportunity, yes. Brady and Jordan didn’t win those rings solo. Nor did Gretzky. Their teammates had to be on their games, too. Management had to find those players. Mahomes plays with Travis Kelce, a top-5 all-time tight end. Mahomes wasn’t the one taking the chance on drafting the free-spirited receiver. Mahomes lucked into Andy Reid’s beautiful mind.
I mean, a million things have to go right, the stars have to align over and over. So many moving parts. What if Sunday night a Chiefs lineman had been flagged for holding on the ultimate play?
Luck plays a role, but Rare Greatness first demands a player put himself in the position where luck matters.
What makes Mahomes Mahomes is easily quantified. It’s impossible to analyze completely accurately. It’s just too subjective. So we use silly terms such as The It Factor. Or, my term, Inevitable.
I praised Joe Burrow’s Inevitability during the Bengals most recent Super run. Burrow is accurate, bloodless and confident. He expects to perform magic. When he’s healthy, he does just that. Burrow has Mahomes’ vibe, but not his hardware. No one playing any sport now does.
The High Council of Inevitable called it a night. They’d seen what they’d seen. Tiger had to get up early Monday, to get his back ready for an actual golf tournament. Michael had a meeting with Messi and Djokovic, to discuss world dominance.
Somewhere, Ali was floating.
“Let’s see him do it again next year,’’ Brady said. All agreed.
“It’s such a delicate thing, rare greatness,’’ Tiger offered. “So much can happen. I mean, look at me.’’
I open the comments and the 1st thing I read is how wonderful Burrow is. Yes, he's super.... but he doesn't belong anywhere in the conversation... yet.
The game, I agree with everything, everything you've written. But in this particular game, I kept saying while anyone would listen... the 49ers are gonna regret not scoring some points in the early part of the game, they had the MOJO big time, and they wasted it. They were pushing KC all over the place - gotta turn it into points.
But especially after the Ravens victory, and this. I would never, ever bet against Patrick M.
Nine is better than 15. Yes, yes he is. True, Mahomes has better athleticism. That certainly played a key role in their title winning drive. Burrow is the better man. Yeah yeah, I know. PM now has 3 Lombardis. Good for him. He is a remarkable player. Most certainly! The Chefs should be sending a thank you letter to Sheisty’s wrist. Dear Mr Wrist, thank you for taking nearly half the season off. Boy, we sure were concerned having watched you curb stomp the Niners before plowing over Buffalo. The old nerves were about shot after the TD drive that put you up over Bmore early before the, what shall we call it, incident occurred. Snap, there it went. The skating party through the remainder of our season was enjoyed by the whole team. Not much for us in the way of competition these days. Except for, you know, you. The whole team appreciates your act of generosity and sincerely hopes you are doing well on your road to recovery and return in ‘24. Well, except we’re lying about that last part!