KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Patrick Mahomes turned a sport on its side from the beginning, his outrageous talent melding with his perfect coach to transform a league built on parity into one with a marketing plan built on his shoulders.
When he first came to Kansas City three years ago, he knew it was in two states and had a lot of barbecue and that was about it. People told him about the Chiefs' sorry postseason history. He listened. He always listens. He did not seem daunted. He never seems daunted.
The first time he played here, he left grown men with successful careers shaking their heads at the uselessness of defending him like normal quarterbacks. The first season he was his team's starter he won the league's MVP award.
The first time he played in the postseason, he delivered the first AFC Championship Game in the 47-year history of Arrowhead Stadium. The second year he was even better, even if the stats didn't show it, and after his kneecap slid back in place he took the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl in 50 years.
All of which is a four-paragraph version of this: By the time the Chiefs played the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV at Miami, Mahomes had done virtually everything imaginable in his short career ... except for two things.
He had not won the Super Bowl, and he had not ever played poorly.
