It turns out the only thing that can stop the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl is having Tom Brady in the building.
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have been a dominant force in the NFL for over a half decade but only twice have they truly stumbled on the biggest stage. Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans remember the first time pretty well; the 31-9 thumping in Super Bowl 55 Todd Bowles' defense put on Kansas City remains a stain on the dynasty.
On Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles joined the brotherhood of teams that embarrassed the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Philly took what the Bucs did back in 2020 and snapped the dial off, blowing Kansas City out in ways we haven't seen before on a stage so big.
They were games that took back five years apart, but both times Tom Brady was in the building with a front-row seat to the destruction.
Tom Brady watched over the two most embarrassing Chiefs Super Bowl losses
In the lead-up to Super Bowl 59, so many narratives were seemingly unfolding, including one in which Patrick Mahomes surpassed Tom Brady as the GOAT. Four Super Bowl rings doesn't equal seven, but a win over the Eagles would have out Mahomes on track to eventually pass Brady in a category that seemed untouchable when he retired.
Mahomes still has a long career ahead of him, but the conversation about surpassing Brady has been tabled.
Something that got lost in that whole discussion was how Brady remains a towering shadow over Mahomes in more than one way. It's not just his legacy but the fact that Mahomes was unable to ever beat Brady when the lights were the brightest. He lost in the 2018 AFC Championship Game when Brady was still with the Patriots and failed to beat him in the Super Bowl against Tampa Bay.
While he wasn't on the field for Sunday's beatdown, Brady was still in the building calling the game on national television. This means that he's now presided over three of the most brutal defeats of his career, essentially watching two and engineering a third (no disrespect, but the Buccaneers defense won Super Bowl 55).
Plenty will be said about the Chiefs in the aftermath of another embarrassing Super Bowl loss, but Tom Brady being the common thread between them is yet another distance marker between the two in the GOAT debate.
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