KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Patrick Mahomes has been through self-described slumps before, including last year, when the Chiefs struggled so mightily late in the season that some were calling them a long shot to win another Super Bowl title.
Then the two-time league MVP played his best football in the postseason and they won a second straight championship.
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So even though Mahomes has not played well during a 4-0 start heading into Monday night's game against New Orleans — by his own lofty standards, anyway — he knows things can change in a hurry. The important thing is to continue working on the details, all those small but often overlooked things, and keep the confidence that he has been through this before.
“That's what I learned last year,” Mahomes told a small group of reporters Wednesday. “I obviously went through a slump where I didn't play as good at the end of last year, and I just continued to work on it in practice. And in the playoffs, I thought I played a very high level. And so that's what I've been focusing on right now.”
Indeed, Mahomes threw for his fewest yards in a full season in six years as a starter last regular season, along with his fewest touchdown passes and most interceptions.
Yet when the playoffs rolled around, Mahomes completed nearly 70% of his passes, threw six TD passes against one interception, and led Kansas City to wins over Miami, Buffalo and Baltimore.
In the Super Bowl against San Francisco, he threw for 333 yards with two TDs and was MVP of the Chiefs' overtime victory.
That all provides optimism for the rest of this season.
Mahomes has so far played perhaps his worst four-game stretch as an NFL starter, throwing for 909 yards with six TD passes and five interceptions. And he knows it, too, insisting after each win that he needs to perform at a higher level.
He believes there are several reasons for the slow start, though none have to do with a busy offseason away from the field.
For one thing, opposing defenses have developed shell coverages that have taken away the deep shot that Mahomes made so famous when Tyreek Hill was running routes for him. They are basically daring Kansas City to beat them with the run game, or at worse, forcing Mahomes into throwing short passes, pick up first downs and grind the ball down the field.
“It's not as fun,” he admitted with a smile. “You're not going to see a lot of one-play touchdowns unless you hit, like, a crazy shot. So we have to keep working so that we can execute at a high level. And I think that has been something I've worked on with how teams are playing us. I have to continue do to that, and show that we can drive the ball all game long.”
The other big reason Mahomes believes he's gotten off to a slow start? Paralysis by analysis.
Just like baseball players often look at video of themselves when they're trying to end a slump, Mahomes will occasionally look at film of his younger days, when he was breaking records seemingly every time he stepped on the field. And what he saw was a quarterback who relied on his instincts to make plays, just like he did as a kid playing sandlot football growing up.
“There's some points now where you almost know too much,” he said. "When I was younger, I would just cut it loose. Like, I'd just go through the reads the way they sat on paper, and I'd throw the deep shot if it was there. I gave it chances. And now there are times where I'm like, ‘Well, they’re supposed to be in this coverage and that's not supposed to be there,' and it is.
“So you've got to have the balance of, I don't want to say being naive, but in reading the play the way it's supposed to be read, even if the coverage says it's not going to be that guy, and then when it's there, you take your chances.”
Mahomes still did not play his best last week in Los Angeles, when the Chiefs rallied for a 17-10 win over the Chargers. But as he looked back over the game film, he saw moments that gave him confidence he was turning the corner again.
One of them was hitting rookie Xavier Worthy with a 54-yard touchdown pass that got Kansas City on the scoreboard.
The Chiefs went on to win their fourth game by a touchdown or less. Two of them, against Baltimore and Cincinnati, have been decided on the final play. And their win over the Falcons was wrapped up with a fourth down stand in the final minute.
All while their star quarterback continues to work through a slump.
“That's why I think it's special what we've been doing early in the season, not playing our best football but finding ways to win,” Mahomes said, “because a lot of these games could be losses, and we could be looking at a way different rest of the year.”
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