Another game, another historic performance for Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. It seems like it happens every week at this point, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive for the fourth-year starter.
During Kansas City’s playoff romp against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night, Mahomes put up an impressive stat line: 404 yards passing, five touchdown passes, 29 yards rushing and an interception.
With that mega stat line, Mahomes made franchise history, ousting his former mentor Alex Smith for the single-game passing yards record:
With 402 passing yards in tonight's game, QB Patrick Mahomes now owns the franchise single-game record for passing yards in the postseason, topping the previous mark of 378 set by QB Alex Smith at Indianapolis (1/4/14).
— Chiefs Communications (@ChiefsPR) January 17, 2022
It’s actually sort of surprising that Mahomes hadn’t already hit that 400-yard mark in the postseason, but I suppose it was bound to happen sometime.
It wasn’t just franchise records that Mahomes broke on Sunday, though. His five touchdown passes in a span of 11 minutes and 31 seconds was a postseason feat that will likely not be broken for a long time, if ever:
Correction: The time span was 11:31, still the fastest in NFL postseason history.
The last player, regular season or playoffs, to do it that quickly was Tom Brady in 2009 (5 Pass TD in 9:44). The Patriots beat the Titans in Week 6, 59-0.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 17, 2022
It’s so tough to score that quickly in the NFL, but doing it against a playoff team is that much tougher and that much more awe-inspiring.
And wait — there’s more. If the above stats weren’t enough, this last one should widen some eyeballs. Mahomes is the first quarterback to put up 400+ yards passing and five-plus passing touchdowns in a playoff win. Another quarterback did it in a playoff loss, though: Ben Roethlisberger, in 2017.
Patrick Mahomes is the first QB in NFL history to have 400+ pass yards and 5+ pass TD in a playoff win
The only other QB with 400+ pass yards and 5+ pass TD in a playoff game?
Ben Roethlisberger in his 2017 Divisional Round loss vs JAX
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) January 17, 2022
Considering Roethlisberger’s (probable) impending retirement, it seems like destiny that Mahomes would put up a stat that mirrors one of Big Ben’s records in the latter’s final NFL game. That just shows how, occasionally, the game tends to come full circle.
