National Football League

Is it Super Bowl or bust for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in 2021?

Published Aug. 10, 2021 6:16 p.m. ET

There is a shortlist of teams that enter the NFL season with Super Bowl or bust aspirations, and on that list of teams, typically, some of the NFL's elite quarterbacks are featured.

That criteria extends to the defending AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs, believed to be one of the favorites to hoist the Lombardi Trophy at season's end behind the arm of Patrick Mahomes.

Since becoming the Chiefs' starting quarterback in 2018, Mahomes has led the Chiefs to a 38-8 record while under center, winning the MVP award in his first full season as a starter and being named a Pro Bowler in each of the past three seasons.

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Mahomes and the Chiefs have also navigated their way to consecutive Super Bowl appearances, including a Super Bowl LIV victory at the conclusion of the 2019 season.

Despite suffering a crushing 31-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV, Mahomes and the Chiefs enter the 2021 season as the odds-on favorites to win Super Bowl LVI, at +500, according to FOX Bet.

But with those expectations, is it possible that Mahomes is on the cusp of becoming a victim of his own success?

Apparently so, considering that former Pro Bowl linebacker LaVar Arrington said on Tuesday's "First Things First" that this season is Super Bowl or bust for Kansas City.

"It's 100 percent [Super Bowl or bust], and this is why: A guy that comes out of the gate as quickly as Patrick Mahomes has come out of the gate — winning a Super Bowl, winning an MVP, winning a Super Bowl MVP, going back to a Super Bowl — he is accomplished at such a high clip so early in his career."

Mahomes' early career trajectory has him in the same conversation as one Tom Brady, who happens to be the only QB to defeat Mahomes in the playoffs.

In Brady's first year as a starter with the New England Patriots in 2001, he went 11-3 on his way to leading the Pats to their first Super Bowl victory. After missing the playoffs in 2002, Brady and the Patriots entered the 2003 season with questions before going 14-2 and winning a second Super Bowl in three seasons.

That marked the beginning of Brady's more than two-decade reign over the NFL, building a résumé as arguably the greatest player in NFL history — a résumé Mahomes is now chasing after.

After failing to win the Super Bowl last season, Mahomes has a chance to follow in Brady's footsteps and bounce back with a second Super Bowl title in three seasons early in his career.

But as Chris Broussard pointed out on "First Things First," Mahomes could add to his already impressive résumé this season even if he and the Chiefs don't dethrone Brady.

"In the 100-year history of the NFL, only four teams have ever gotten to three straight [conference] championship games and only three have gotten to three straight Super Bowls," he noted. "That is what Pat Mahomes and the Chiefs are attempting to do."

Mahomes and the Chiefs are one of the main draws in the NFL, and with them chasing history, all eyes will be on Kansas City this fall.

But unlike the Chiefs, Mahomes will be chasing a little more than history.

He'll be chasing icon status.

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