ESPN: Mahomes Nightmare SB, wanted 3-Peat bad

[dirk digler]

I didn't see this posted but it is a long article you can read here but Pat wanted this badly.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...ee-peat-denied

When a coach realizes his quarterback could be the greatest of all time, it should be a feeling of pure joy, right?

Not in the case of the Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes.

"It makes it so much more stressful," Chiefs passing game coordinator Joe Bleymaier told ESPN on Wednesday of Super Bowl week. "You feel the burden as a coach and as you're putting a game plan together to not waste his abilities. To not go through a season where you don't give him the opportunity. To not screw it up as the coaching staff. So rather than feeling like this just unbridled excitement that we could do anything, it's actually more like a terror, like we cannot be the reason that we screwed this guy up or this team up."

Every week when Bleymaier puts together the game plan with coach Andy Reid, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy and the Chiefs staff, he wonders, "Are we utilizing him the best? Are we giving him the stuff that he needs? It's just constantly second-guessing ourselves just so that he has everything he needs to go be himself."

That burden weighed heavily on many of the Chiefs' players after a 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the silent and stuffy Super Bowl LIX postgame locker room Sunday night. Mahomes, who threw a pick-six in the first half, told the players at halftime that he needed to play better, according to Leo Chenal. The linebacker said he could hear in Mahomes' voice how much he was hurting by not playing up to his own standard.

"He demanded better of himself. And guys all around him were like, 'We need to be better for you, too, Patrick,'" Chenal said.

But the motivation of supporting a dynasty-building quarterback wasn't enough to overcome a 24-0 first-half deficit. The Chiefs fell short of making NFL history with a third straight title and wallowed in the shock of it.

Receiver DeAndre Hopkins slouched with his eyes closed as he rode down the concourse in a golf cart. Tight end Travis Kelce spoke to reporters for a quick two minutes before turning his back. Receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Hollywood Brown sat facing their lockers with their heads bowed, their upper bodies fully bent in half. Offensive lineman Joe Thuney wiped blood off his right calf.

As soon as Mahomes said it out loud last season after the Chiefs' second consecutive Super Bowl win -- "No one's ever got three. I want to go back-to-back-to-back," the NFL Films crew caught him saying to Chris Jones -- a three-peat seemed inevitable. But even the greatest quarterback can be rendered powerless when under siege by the league's deepest pass rush.

Kansas City's offensive line had held together until the most important game, when it faced the opponent whose roster is built around offensive and defensive line play. Thuney, one of the best guards in football, had filled in nobly at left tackle since Week 15, playing the role because Kansas City's younger tackles needed more time to develop. When Reid suggested moving the All-Pro left guard over to left tackle, offensive line coach Andy Heck wasn't sold on the idea. They'd be sacrificing on the interior and asking Thuney to do a very different job, out in space battling the best edge rushers.

CHIEFS COACHES SAID Mahomes never talked about the three-peat in a team setting, but away from the Chiefs facility, in sessions with his personal trainer, Bobby Stroupe, Mahomes did voice the prospect of a three-peat multiple times. "I get to hear unfiltered Patrick every Monday," Stroupe said during Super Bowl week.

Stroupe has trained Mahomes since the quarterback was 10 years old, and typically Stroupe plays the role of the antagonizer. Remember Burrowhead. Don't forget how the Bengals made you feel.

"Whatever is getting to him, that's what I'm going to talk about when the workout is tough," Stroupe said.

Like the time during the 2022 postseason, before the Chiefs won their first of back-to-back titles, when Mahomes had a severe high ankle sprain and Stroupe said the quarterback was in excruciating pain and close to throwing up while he had him farmer-carry a 400-pound hex weight bar.

But that negative bulletin-board material felt "old hat" this year, Stroupe said. "Whatever the latest Bengal is saying, we're just kind of over it. But you've got to grip something."

So Mahomes gripped something weightier and more solid than a flimsy insult. Stroupe said Mahomes started talking about his goal of winning three straight during OTAs this past offseason. And specifically the idea of the three-peat as a legacy.

"Everybody wants to win a Super Bowl when they get to it," Stroupe said last week. "But this one, this means something, and it means something that for him is better than anything individual. I think he wants more than anything for this team to be known as the best team of all time.

"When I'm whooping his ass, that's the thing he's been going to. This year, it shifted pretty quick to 'We got a chance of legacy here with this team.'"

Stroupe said Mahomes told him at one of his last workouts during the bye week before the Super Bowl that because no other NFL team had completed a three-peat, doing so would put the Chiefs on a higher tier of dynasty.

In past years, Stroupe finished a workout with Mahomes by reminding him to stay open-minded to the result, with the goal of playing his best football. Not this year.

"For him to bring [the three-peat] up, it's just really uncommon for him," Stroupe said. "It was just a different response."

[Tribal Warfare]

If only the OL didn't shit themselves it would've a drastically different story

[Bl00dyBizkitz]

Originally Posted by TwistedChief

This is a ridiculous reactionary take.

You think that QB coach wasn’t feeling the same in the Bills game? The SB last year? The AFCCG against the Ravens last year? The SB 2yrs ago against the Eagles?

JFC. The desperation to find someone to blame is pure absurdity.

I dont really care when it happened, regardless of the results.

Why would a coach be afraid to coach a player? Because the player is a superstar? Because they're afraid the player might not like what you have to say and barks back? ****. That. You're the coach, they're the player. Your job is to be push players to be greater. You never do that by backing down or being intimidated by the player.

Also have you not seen me in other threads. I have given Mahomes PLENTY of blame pie. I'm not trying to deflect the blame away.

[TwistedChief]

Originally Posted by Bl00dyBizkitz

I dont really care when it happened, regardless of the results.

Why would a coach be afraid to coach a player? Because the player is a superstar? Because they're afraid the player might not like what you have to say and barks back? ****. That. You're the coach, they're the player. Your job is to be push players to be greater. You never do that by backing down or being intimidated by the player.

Also have you not seen me in other threads. I have given Mahomes PLENTY of blame pie. I'm not trying to deflect the blame away.

It's not understanding the bigger picture. If we had won this game, you wouldn't have given this a second thought. Instead you're hyperventilating about anything and everything that caused your difficult reaction to the loss. (I definitely saw that thread.)

He's just making the point that they understand how amazing this player is and how they don't want to waste his talent. If they had just won this SB, you would've read this and thought, "WOW, this team operates at the high level it does because they realize what a unicorn Mahomes is and need to maximize anything and everything!"

Instead, because they lost 1 game in the playoffs in 3 seasons, you decide to use this as a reason to fire a coach. It's absurdity. As if he and all the other coaches didn't feel this same way ahead of each and every game this team has won over the past few seasons.

Come on, guys. This is ridiculous.

[comochiefsfan]

Regardless if this is a real issue or not, it seems clear that the offensive staff needs an infusion of innovation and creativity.

Remember just a few years ago when our play design was the envy of the league? Everything is so vanilla and predictable now. Where in the world did amazing schemer Andy Reid go?

We have a room full of conservative pussies right now in guys like this dude and Nagy who don’t seem to be adding anything useful to the offense.

Andy needs to either rediscover his magic or jettison some of these coaches and try to find a Ben Johnson type to come in here and maximize Mahomes’ ability.

Because right now it is being wasted.

[Bl00dyBizkitz]

Originally Posted by TwistedChief

It's not understanding the bigger picture. If we had won this game, you wouldn't have given this a second thought. Instead you're hyperventilating about anything and everything that caused your difficult reaction to the loss. (I definitely saw that thread.)

He's just making the point that they understand how amazing this player is and how they don't want to waste his talent. If they had just won this SB, you would've read this and thought, "WOW, this team operates at the high level it does because they realize what a unicorn Mahomes is and need to maximize anything and everything!"

Instead, because they lost 1 game in the playoffs in 3 seasons, you decide to use this as a reason to fire a coach. It's absurdity. As if he and all the other coaches didn't feel this same way ahead of each and every game this team has won over the past few seasons.

Come on, guys. This is ridiculous.

I'm hyper ventilating?

Dude. I was hyper focused on the 3-peat and stopped caring for myself like I should have for a couple months. Like, not eating well, not sleeping well, not focused at work. Basic depression stuff, and it doesn't help that it's winter and we get ****ing zero sunlight.. I wasn't red in the face screaming at the TV. I was at a bar and watched in silence as we played a terrible game, then went home at halftime. If you think I'm being a prisoner of the moment, I'm sorry but you've got it all wrong.

Reading back on the thread, yeah he's probably not actually afraid of Mahomes, but is scared to lose it for him. Still kinda not what I want to hear, but far less of a red flag.

[TwistedChief]

Originally Posted by Bl00dyBizkitz

Reading back on the thread, yeah he's probably not actually afraid of Mahomes, but is scared to lose it for him. Still kinda not what I want to hear, but far less of a red flag.

All I think you and others need to do is come back to this. Thanks.

If you read that paragraph before any other game, you wouldn’t have thought anything of it. Let’s not spend time trying to find a reason why we were outplayed. It happens to most teams multiple teams a season. For us, it happens rarely.

That’s all the perspective I’m talking about.

Hugs.

[MahomesMagic]

Originally Posted by comochiefsfan

Regardless if this is a real issue or not, it seems clear that the offensive staff needs an infusion of innovation and creativity.

Remember just a few years ago when our play design was the envy of the league? Everything is so vanilla and predictable now. Where in the world did amazing schemer Andy Reid go?

We have a room full of conservative pussies right now in guys like this dude and Nagy who don’t seem to be adding anything useful to the offense.

Andy needs to either rediscover his magic or jettison some of these coaches and try to find a Ben Johnson type to come in here and maximize Mahomes’ ability.

Because right now it is being wasted.

Andy is one of the greatest offensive play callers in NFL history and a tremendous head coach.

But I think age is catching up to him.

We no longer seem to have an edge on the offensive side. Most weeks the team we are playing knows our plays as well as we do.

There have been two great updates since Mahomes took over.

One was Mahomes first year where Andy got to merge the best of the West Coach Offense and the college spread with the verticals that had been missing with Alex at QB and terrified the NFL.

Then in 2021 teams basically said we won't let you do those, beat us 8-15 yards at a time.

In 2022 we came back and mastered that offense which was more modernized West Coast to attack shell.

Since that year we have been just kind of floundering on offense with no identity or things that we do that just work.

[TwistedChief]

Originally Posted by MahomesMagic

Andy is one of the greatest offensive play callers in NFL history and a tremendous head coach.

But I think age is catching up to him.

We no longer seem to have an edge on the offensive side. Most weeks the team we are playing knows our plays as well as we do.

There have been two great updates since Mahomes took over.

One was Mahomes first year where Andy got to merge the best of the West Coach Offense and the college spread with the verticals that had been missing with Alex at QB and terrified the NFL.

Then in 2021 teams basically said we won't let you do those, beat us 8-15 yards at a time.

In 2022 we came back and mastered that offense which was more modernized West Coast to attack shell.

Since that year we have been just kind of floundering on offense with no identity or things that we do that just work.

We just made our 3rd consecutive SB with a makeshift OL and last week against the Bills he put on a clinic?

What?

[MahomesMagic]

Originally Posted by TwistedChief

We just made our 3rd consecutive SB with a makeshift OL and last week against the Bills he put on a clinic?

What?

The Bills game was beautiful.


The problem is those games where we seem to have a scheme/playcalling advantage on offense are fewer and fewer every year.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by MahomesMagic

The Bills game was beautiful.


The problem is those games where we seem to have a scheme/playcalling advantage on offense are fewer and fewer every year.

And Buffalo was a mediocre defense… before they were missing key players to injury.

[TwistedChief]

Originally Posted by MahomesMagic

The Bills game was beautiful.


The problem is those games where we seem to have a scheme/playcalling advantage on offense are fewer and fewer every year.

And yet we’re the winningest team over the last several years and the envy of the league.

I’m sorry it takes you longer than most to see the big picture. I realize choosing Worthy over Mitchell still bothers you as you didn’t recognize a clear alpha WR when he was in our grasp until late in the season.

Maybe stop being a prisoner of the moment.

[PAChiefsGuy]

Dude thinks it's stressful going for a three-peat and having one of the GOAT QBs to try and do it?

What a joke. Get this guy off the ****ing team..

[MahomesMagic]

Originally Posted by FloridaMan88

And Buffalo was a mediocre defense… before they were missing key players to injury.

Who knows, maybe Andy Reid had devised his masterpiece for the second half of the SB this year because he thought it would be a close game.


But with Mahomes going off the reservation, the OL getting bum rushed, the WR's and Kelce dropping everything, and the playcalling asking for longer developing routes when the OL could not hold for 2 seconds, game ended before we could see it.

[MahomesMagic]

Originally Posted by TwistedChief

And yet we’re the winningest team over the last several years and the envy of the league.

I’m sorry it takes you longer than most to see the big picture. I realize choosing Worthy over Mitchell still bothers you as you didn’t recognize a clear alpha WR when he was in our grasp until late in the season.

Maybe stop being a prisoner of the moment.

Not at all.


Nice attempt to change the subject again because, as usual, you have nothing interesting or insightful to say.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by TwistedChief

And yet we’re the winningest team over the last several years and the envy of the league.

The past was great (although you have to go to back to 2022 to when the offense was actually “great”)… so don’t evolve/adapt for the future.

Talk about being a “prisoner of the moment”.