Kansas City Chiefs will start Patrick Mahomes vs Denver

The news just about every Kansas City Chiefs fan has been waiting for has finally come out. Rookie quarterback Patrick Mahomes will start his first game this Sunday.

Ever since the Kansas City Chiefs made the big trade to jump up and draft quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the fans have been waiting for the day he would start. Now, with the Chiefs spot in the playoffs determined fully, Andy Reid has made his decision. Mahomes will start his first game this Sunday against the Denver Broncos.

The excitement in Chiefs Kingdom is almost palpable at this moment. Regardless of anything that happens this season, all eyes are set towards the future in Kansas City. It’s almost a little comical, considering that this team is still very much alive for a Super Bowl bid. However, this is how much the fan base has been craving a “franchise quarterback”.

Of course, you can’t say enough about the season that Alex Smith has been having for Kansas City. He’s come out and had a career year when the Chiefs absolutely needed it most. Smith has changed some perceptions about him in what is likely his last season in KC. However, nobody is really thinking about that in this moment.

Patrick Mahomes will start on Sunday against the Broncos, per Andy Reid.
— Chiefs Reporter (@ChiefsReporter) December 27, 2017

Big Expectations For The Rookie

Of all the rookie quarterbacks selected this year, nobody came in with as much pressure as Patrick Mahomes is in Kansas City. Mitchell Trubisky was taking over for a bad quarterback on a bad team. Deshaun Watson had virtually no real competition in Houston. However, Mahomes was coming to a winning team with a quarterback that had been competent for the last four years.

Now Patrick Mahomes has sat on the sidelines all year as Alex Smith has put up career numbers and looked like an entirely different player. The Chiefs are now headed into the playoffs with some serious momentum. It’s quite a bit for Mahomes to be taking over. Don’t think for a second that he won’t be feeling some nerves this weekend.

On top of that, Chiefs Kingdom is already setting some high expectations of Patrick Mahomes as an individual player. Mahomes put up huge numbers at Texas Tech, and KC fans are expecting that to continue. For any talk of “patience” and “being realistic”, we can’t deny that we’ve all gotten pretty excited about this. It’s a high bar for anyone to reach.

This Game Is All About Experience

Hopefully we will see Kansas City Chiefs fans stay grounded in their expectations for this game. Patrick Mahomes is a talented player, but the Denver defense is one of the best in the league. Mahomes hasn’t gotten any starting reps this year since training camp. It is very unlikely that he will come out and just dominate this week.