Patrick Mahomes and the NFL World Order
The Chiefs lose Rashee Rice, but they'll survive. They always do. Also inside: Sean McDermott McRelapses, Nick Sirianni's clock ticks, Packers problems and, holy, Jayden Daniels.
The burst of frustration had a cinematic quality to it. With two hands, Justin Herbert winds up and smashes his helmet with authority against a steel bench on the Los Angeles Chargers sideline. His hair’s flowing. His temper’s fuming. It’s as pissed as we’ve seen the talented quarterback through his five-year career.
Again, one of his stupefying throws was wasted.
Again, we’re left to wonder if coaching is holding him back. The Greg Roman hire was odd at the time and warrants reexamination now.
But mostly? This scene is the latest in a long, long trail of destruction left in the dust of the sport’s best player and best head coach.
He’s not alone. Herbert is simply the one stuck in the same division as Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid.
All of us spent another offseason hyping potential king slayers. Yet, the first quarter of this 2024 NFL season has been another reminder — to all — that Kansas City still lords over the entire league. What happens throughout the AFC doesn’t matter a hell of a lot because what happens on the quarterback’s own roster doesn’t seem to even matter. Mahomes always finds a way. Bad news strikes weekly and the Chiefs keep winning… all while playing the long game. Hollywood Brown was lost for the regular season. Isiah Pacheco is on IR with a fractured fibula. One position every contender must have stabilized — left tackle — has been unstable. Kingsley Suamataia was benched two games in.
Travis Kelce looked so shot through three games that his teammates rocked t-shirts in pregame honoring him. The sort of shirts typically seen when a loved one dies.
Rashee Rice has been outstanding. So, of course, Rice tore his ACL on Sunday. Mahomes himself inadvertently did the damage while making a tackle on an interception.
None of it mattered Sunday at SoFi Stadium as the Chiefs defeated the Chargers anyway, 17-10.