At this point it should go without saying, but allow me, for the sake of this piece, to state the obvious: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is one of the greatest players who has ever stepped on an NFL field. Mahomes’ career accolades and the eye-test both back that up. But what is it that takes a player from great to transcendent? That, I believe, lies in what kind of teammate that player is.
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Without being in the building, it’s not always easy to get an idea for what sort of teammate a player is. We can watch their demeanor on the sideline, listen to the way they talk about their teammates in press conferences, and take note of instances where their teammates gush about them. But that only gets you so far.
Then there are the little, seldom-discussed, under-the-radar moments captured on video that highlight the little ways that someone leads. Put those moments together in a compilation, and suddenly it’s clear, Yeah, this guy gets it.
Well, Patrick Mahomes gets it.
Again, this singular action is a minor one in the grand scheme of an entire season, but it’s repeated moments like this that go a long way in building trust within a locker room, allowing for Mahomes to deliver messages to his teammates that pack more of a punch than they would otherwise.
While trailing on multiple occasions in the 2nd half of their Week 2 matchup versus the Cincinnati Bengals, Patrick Mahomes echoed a message over and over on the Kansas City sideline as the Chiefs attempted to prevent Joe Burrow and the Bengals from turning Arrowhead Stadium into Burrowhead Stadium once again. It was one that Mahomes go-to-target Travis Kelce referenced postgame as being vital to keeping the Chiefs in the game.
“Pat’s telling everybody ‘stay alive,’” Kelce said after the win, per Vahe Gregorian of Yahoo! Sports. “The initial play might not be there, but you’ve got to make something happen out of nothing.”
The Chiefs trusted in Mahomes, trusted in each other, and managed to escape with a 26-25 win. After the game, head coach Andy Reid explained that the win was that could be credited to the culture the Chiefs have built since drafting Mahomes in 2017.
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“The culture of this team is we don’t start pointing fingers, we don’t break down, we don’t lose confidence in ourselves or our teammates.”
The culture is trust.
The culture is trusting in one another.
And yes, the culture is Patrick Mahomes.