With Kansas City attempting a historic achievement leading up to the Super Bowl, the debate was raging about who was better: Rob Gronkowski or Travis Kelce, Andy Reid or Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes. If Kansas City had won, those sentiments and debates would have become full-on arguments and wars. We don’t have to worry about that since Mahomes and the Chiefs were thoroughly trounced last Sunday.
This is part three in my three-part series, analyzing each of these men, head to head. If you haven’t, go back and read parts 1 and 2. Part 1 was Gronk vs Kelce, and Part 2 was Belichick vs Reid. This third and final installment is the big one: Brady vs Mahomes…followed by an overall synopsis of each dynasty.
Tale of the Tape:
I’m not going to bury the lead: leading up to this game, Tom Brady was the GOAT. And after this game, he’s still the GOAT. In reality, even if Mahomes had won the game, giving him a fourth Super Bowl and three in a row, Brady would still be the GOAT, but the debate would have more teeth. The main reason is because of Brady’s prolific career spanning two decades. If Brady never had an Act 2 after his 10-year drought and was stuck on three Super Bowls, it’s a much closer argument. At best, this debate between these two men can be considered incomplete or in progress, and it remains to be seen how Mahomes will be as he enters his 30s without Reid and Kelce in the near future.
But, in fairness to Mahomes, if we compare his stats to Brady’s through their age 29 seasons, Mahomes holds up very well. Mahomes W-L record is 89-23, and a winning percentage of 79.4%. Brady was 70-24, a winning percentage of 74.4%. Mahomes’ playoff record is a blistering 17-4, with a winning percentage of 80.9%. Brady does have the playoff edge, with a 12-2 mark and a winning percentage of 85.7%. Each man has three Super Bowl titles, but Mahomes has two more appearances, along with a seven-year streak of reaching the AFC championship game.
Brady has a career mark of 35 playoff wins, which leads all QBs. At only age 29, Mahomes is already second, with 17 career playoff wins. Honestly, through age 29, I would give Mahomes an edge. And if Mahomes had won last Sunday, even with only four Super Bowls under his belt, to Brady’s seven, I would be hard-pressed not to give Mahomes GOAT status…but that didn’t happen. In fact, before the game, I already had Mahomes at no.2, ahead of Peyton Manning and even the great Joe Montana.
After this loss, Mahomes does dip a bit in stature. The best comparison for these two men is Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Early in his career, everyone wanted to anoint Tiger as the GOAT, even though he hadn’t built the same resume as the Golden Bear. But injuries and scandals derailed the competition between the two men. Nicklaus leads all golfers with 18 Majors to go along with 19 second-place finishes. Woods has realistically stopped winning Majors, effectively ending his career with 15 major titles…which is an amazing number, but it does fall short. And let’s not forget that after Nicklaus turned 50, he began playing on the Seniors Tour and won eight Majors titles.
Tiger never caught Jack, and it remains to be seen if Patrick will catch Tom. If he had won on Sunday, it would have made the task much easier…and entering age 30 will only make it tougher for Mahomes. And the final point favoring TB12 is the fact that he played to age 45. It is doubtful Mahomes will play another 15 seasons, and even if he plays 10 more to age 40, he still needs four more titles and accumulates a ton more yardage and TD passes. Mahomes has 245 TD passes and 32,352 passing yards. Brady had 649 TD passes and a remarkable 89,214 passing yards.
FINAL VERDICT:
As for the final verdict of the two team’s dynasties, the edge still goes to the Patriots. Six Super Bowl victories over a span of 18 years. Along with three other appearances…and a stretch of eight consecutive championship appearances, this is greater than seven consecutive championship appearances, five appearances, and three titles. Let’s see how the Chiefs do over the next 11 seasons…it isn’t a guarantee that Mahomes will even still be playing by that time.
BRADY > MAHOMES
