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Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes on 'GOAT' Tom Brady: 'His Career Is One of a Kind'
January 31, 2022
After the Kansas City Chiefs fell to the Cincinnati Bengals in Sunday's AFC Championship Game, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said he gained a greater appreciation for Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady.
Mahomes was hoping to lead the Chiefs to a third consecutive Super Bowl appearance. After falling short, he reflected on the even-time champion Brady's sustained run of success throughout the future Hall of Famer's career.
"His career is one of a kind," Mahomes told reporters. "That's why he's the GOAT. To win that many Super Bowls and win that many games, it's hard. I understand that."
Playing in their fourth straight AFC title game, the Chiefs fell 27-24 in overtime after blowing an 18-point first-half lead. Kansas City is now 2-2 in AFC Championship Games since Mahomes became the full-time starter in 2018, also losing in overtime to the New England Patriots that year.
Mahomes threw for 275 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, one in the second half and the other in overtime. He expressed his disappointment with falling short of the team's goal of making it to Super Bowl LVI.
"It's definitely disappointing," Mahomes said. "Here, with this group of guys that we have, we expect to be in that game and win that game and anything less than that is not success."
Despite the run of four straight conference title games so early in his career, Mahomes said he's not satisfied and he wants to compete for a championship every year.
"The years that I've had, I've been close a lot," he said. "I've only been there twice and I've only won once. I understand it takes a special player, a special group of guys, special circumstances for that to happen. I'm just going to try to do whatever I can to get myself a chance every year to get in that game and to win it."