Don’t look now, but Patrick Mahomes is Patrick Mahomes again … and the Kansas City Chiefs are one of just three undefeated teams in the AFC.
It wasn’t long ago that Mahomes was the best football player on the planet, a three-time Super Bowl champion and three-time Super Bowl MVP. But after looking human in the Super Bowl LIX loss to the Philadelphia Eagles and then going through his first losing season as a starting quarterback in 2025, all of a sudden Mahomes was just okay.
Well, maybe better than okay, but the expectations coming into the 2026 season were not exactly Mahomesian.
It wasn’t just that Mahomes was coming off an ACL tear at the end of last season. Even before he got injured, he had his worst season since becoming the starting quarterback in 2018. His completion percentage (62.7%), passing yards (3,587) and touchdown passes (22) were all career lows in that time span.
When the NFL released its list of the Top 100 Players of 2026, Mahomes was 18th.
Eighteenth.
Three quarterbacks were ranked ahead of Mahomes: Josh Allen (okay), Matthew Stafford (well…) and Drake Maye (c’mon!).
If Mahomes continues to play the way he has through three games this season, the NFL will look foolish with that top 100.
In Sunday’s 24-10 win over the Miami Dolphins, Mahomes completed 20 of 24 passes for 246 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. In three games, Mahomes has completed 67 of 98 passes (68.4%) for 812 yards, seven TD passes and two interceptions.
His favorite target, tight end Travis Kelce, is having something of a renaissance himself. Kelce, who turns 37 next week, has 14 receptions for 231 yards and two touchdowns through three games.
Sunday’s game was Mahomes’ 150th career start, including the postseason. It was his 115th career victory — tying Tom Brady for the most wins for a quarterback in his first 150 NFL starts.
When Mahomes threw three touchdowns in the Week 2 win over the Indianapolis Colts, it was the 48th career game in which he had three or more TD passes. That’s tied with Pro Football Hall of Famers Peyton Manning and Dan Marino for the most such games in the first 10 years of a career. This is Mahomes’ 10th season, so he’s got 14 more tries to pass Manning and Marino and own that record by himself.
More importantly for the Chiefs, they are in first place in the AFC West. They’re at the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 4 and then they get an early bye. It’s a good chance for Mahomes to rest his rehabbed knee, though he’s shown no signs of rust so far.
The signing of running back Kenneth Walker III in free agency has been a big boost for Mahomes. With Walker, the Super Bowl LX MVP, giving the Chiefs a rushing attack they haven’t had in years, defenses are not able to ignore that part of Kansas City’s offense. And Mahomes has taken advantage.
Before last year’s 6-11 stumble, the Chiefs had been to three straight Super Bowls, won three Super Bowls in six years and got at least as far as the AFC title game in seven straight seasons.
One bad season made fans forget that this team has been a dynasty. And it looks like Mahomes might have another chapter to write.
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