Chiefs' Mahomes seeks one huge, next-gen victory 

Here’s the tale of the tape – bridging-the-generations version – for Sunday’s AFC Championship game:

New England quarterback Tom Brady is but seven years younger than the father of Kansas City’s quarterback, Patrick Mahomes.

Brady has played in more than twice as many NFL playoff games (38) as Mahomes has career NFL appearances (18).

In the postseason, Brady has banked, oh, only 1,467 more pass attempts, 72 more touchdown passes and 10,291 more passing yards (or if you prefer, 5.8 miles) than Mahomes.

You get the drift. The old vs. the restless young theme is lousy throughout both conference championship games. But it is even more pronounced here between the 41-year-old godfather of the postseason, Brady, and the 23-year-old Mahomes than on the NFC side, where it’s New Orleans’ Drew Brees (40) vs. L.A.’s Jared Goff (24).

As Brady told the media in Foxboro, when not trying to make the case for how little the world thinks of his team that has been in each of the past seven AFC title games, as well as 12 of the past 17: “Jared and Patrick have had great seasons, great offenses. And we’re still here plugging around, me and Drew, doing our thing, having a lot of fun doing it.”

By the end of conference championship Sunday, when the components of Atlanta’s Super Bowl have been determined, NFL wildlife experts might have a somewhat better read on how the old lions are faring this cold winter.

In the case of the AFC game, the gap in experience is yawning. Brady is always in this game. Mahomes never has been.

The two teams engaged in a wild back-and-forth in Week 6, the Patriots winning in New England on a last-gasp field goal, 43-40. In that one Mahomes started slowly, throwing two first-half interceptions. But he gathered himself for the close, finishing with 352 passing yards and four touchdowns.

Take from that what you will. Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce chose to take this: ““I think the second half tells you how (Mahomes) handles adversity. I am pretty sure he will tell you he didn’t play that well in the first half and made some mistakes, as our offense did as a whole. That second half, we kind of rallied back and gave ourselves a chance to win the game. Sure enough, how he handles adversity is how we are going to go as an offense.”

Who knows exactly how Mahomes will react to any situation at any moment, let alone his first exposure to a conference championship game? He’s not exactly the type who sticks to the sheet music.

As he has riffed all during his first season starting for the Chiefs – throwing his no-look passes, his on-the-move-across-his-body strikes, his daring deep rainbows – Mahomes has defied most convention about what a player as callow as he should be. He has managed to throw for more than 5,000 yards this season and to spearhead an offense that averaged more than 35 points a game while appearing to make it all look like a night at the improv.

For as fresh-faced and inexperienced as Mahomes is, there are those with the Chiefs who would suggest he already is the adult in the room.

“I feel like sometimes as an offense we tend to play (around) too much because we like to play games because we’re a young group,” wide receiver Tyreek Hill said. “I feel like Pat will sometimes step in and he’s like, ‘All right guys let’s go, it’s go time.’ Who doesn’t like to have fun? But Pat knows when it’s time to work.”

Can someone so young and so excitable on the field also command the huddle? Can the package already be so complete that Mahomes can provide both kinetic energy and keen leadership?

“The biggest thing with him is he’s been a leader since he got here,” fullback Anthony Sherman said. “He’s one of those kids who has an unbelievable leadership gene in him.”

The young guy even knows history, too. As the Chiefs this week have been asked about winning the trophy named after their late founder Lamar Hunt – this franchise has won titles in the AFL, but never the AFC – Mahomes gave the most expansive answer.

“We come over to the museum that we have in the stadium and they take us through how he made the AFL, pretty much from scratch, and had this vision for what is now the AFC and combined it with the NFL and made this beautiful league,” Mahomes said.

“It truly is special to have someone like that who has created your franchise. You want to do whatever you can to bring honor to him and that family as they’ve helped make this a place we can play and have fun and play the sport we love to play.”

As well as triggering the offense, now the 24-year-old is reciting legacy.

Going head-to-head with Brady was bound to set off some – possibly premature – passing-the-torch talk.

“I’ve seen it, but there’s still a long way to go,” Mahomes said.

Yes, he even handles that well, knowing that no torch has been passed until he beats Brady, at least once. And beats him on a stage like Sunday’s.

“I’m a young guy,” he said this week. “He’s done so much in this league and he’s still doing it to this day. He’s going to play for more years to come, so I’m always going to strive to do some of things that he’s done, with the Super Bowls that he’s won. That’s the ultimate goal. He’s not trying to pass the torch anytime soon.”

No, you’ll have to take it from him.

KIRO