KC Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes back to Madden form after a few rough starts

Patrick Mahomes lit the Denver Broncos up like a Christmas tree over the weekend. The Kansas City Chiefs had missed that from their quarterback for over a month.

*EDITOR’S NOTE – Cameron Black, the staff member who wrote this, is blind, but he listens to football on the radio and has a great feel for the game, even without his vision. This article was written with the help of a screen reader.*

As an early Christmas present from my parents who are in town visiting for the holidays from Alaska, I received a copy of Madden 20. Several hours after the Kansas City Chiefs took the Denver Broncos to the snow shed, I popped in the game and immediately played a video game replica of that afternoon’s KC VS Denver game, complete with snow showers and all.

Best of all, was that the digitally recreated sprite that looks exactly like league MVP Patrick Mahomes in the video game, put up almost the exact same numbers as the flesh and blood Mahomes of real life.

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One of the storylines during the offseason, was the “expected regression” of the reigning MVP, to which my response always was “A regressed Patrick Mahomes is still one of the best quarterbacks in the league.”

For the first three weeks of the season, it seemed as if not only was Mahomes not regressing, but if possible, the quarterback looked even better and more polished then his 2018 counterpart, throwing for over 300 yards and multiple touchdowns in his first four games.

Mahomes appeared to be eclipsing his own MVP caliber season, even with a bum ankle that he sustained as an injury in a week one win against the Jaguars. On Thursday Night Football against the Broncos, he dislocated his knee on a QB sneak and was ruled out for the next two games against the Packers and Vikings, the latter of which the Chiefs won with Matt Moore serving as heir apparent.

Mahomes returned in a rough loss to the Tennessee Titans the next week and all the games after that have been wins, but even in those wins, Mahomes seemed to somewhat leave his video game scores and stats behind, and become a mere mortal quarterback once more.

Some took advantage of this supposed slide and fall from greatness, but to be honest I never really gave it to much credence. The offense had sustained several major injuries to the offensive line and several key play makers including the greatest play maker of them all, Mahomes himself, so a regression not only in Mahomes, but in the offense would be expected if not forgiven.

Not only were injuries spread copiously throughout the offense and indeed the Chiefs roster, but with the “regression” of Mahomes and the offense, came a surge in the much maligned defense, making them a dominant and driving force in the last four games.

With the defense utterly dominating every team they have faced in the last month or so, this makes it less necessary for Mahomes to carry the team on his back. He has been able to get away with being a more mortal of a signal caller for the first time in his career and he had a defense he could count on to do their part in winning games, so the “regression” didn’t really bother me too much.

Against the Chargers and Raiders, Mahomes reached what would be called the low point in his career so far as far as stats are concerned, throwing for only 182 yards and one score in a 24-17 win over the Chargers, and 175 yards and one touchdown in a defensively suffocating 40-9 win over the Raiders.

Had the Mahomes magic finally dissipated? Certainly not, it just seemed more difficult to spot, like true magic is. Mahomes looked more like himself in a game that raised the blood pressure of every Chiefs fan in the world, when he threw for 283 yards and one touchdown in a heart palpitating 23-16 win over the Patriots in New England.

Finally, in a winter wonderland of an Arrowhead Stadium, in a divisional game against a revitalized Denver Broncos team with their own new prodigy and local Lee Summit product Drew Lock taking the snaps, the Mahomes flying slay took off once more, delivering gift after gift to the citizens of Kansas City.

In a game with hard snow and high winds, a game where a good running game is king, Mahomes threw for 340 yards, including a 41 yard touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill and a successful two point conversion. On that conversion, Mahomes seemed to be doing a cross between ice skating and dancing, as he bought time for Sammy Watkins to become open.

Mahomes shot off the fireworks all day, giving tight end Travis Kelce a career day of 11 catches for 142 yards and becoming the first tight end to notch four straight seasons of 1,000+ yards.

All around him plays were being made and players were dropping into the quickly gathering snow to make snow angels in victory. For fans who have been ever so slightly worried about the clogged up offense as of late, Sunday’s snow globe game was a beautiful reminder and also a look into the future of what this team can be when the defense is the red brick wall and the offense is putting on the fireworks display we have come to expect.

Last week after the Patriots game, I wrote an article about how Chiefs Kingdom shouldn’t be drinking the Super Bowl Kool-Aid just yet. I stand by what I wrote in that piece, but if the team I saw on Sunday is the Chiefs team that enters the playoffs, and Patrick Mahomes looks more like his digital counterpart of Madden 20, then you can at least start mixing the Kool-Aid.