Inside Patrick Mahomes’ ‘superhero’ transformation and another Chiefs AFC title

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When the clock struck 10 Saturday night at the hotel where football’s greatest winners gather before home games, the most important man in the ballroom had a hood over his head and a glazed, impenetrable look in his eyes.

In less than 20 hours, Patrick Mahomes would do what he always does in late January — attempt to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to victory in the AFC Championship Game against a formidable foe, this time against a Buffalo Bills team whose own quarterback, Josh Allen, had spent the past five months playing the sport at a transcendent level.

Many football fans are sick of watching Mahomes shine in such settings and some spout conspiracy theories that ascribe some of his and the Chiefs’ success to supposed help from NFL officiating crews. There’s a lot of noise, but in the moments that define him, Mahomes can tune it out and lock in like few other competitors in the history of the planet.

Two hours before midnight, on the eve of an inevitably epic showdown, Mahomes was in a zone. And even in a crowded meeting room, he was very much alone.

The transformation was so striking that Matt Nagy, the Chiefs offensive coordinator, felt compelled to text his wife, Stacey, about what he was witnessing: “Pat’s slowly turning into his superhero creature tonight at hotel as we speak. It’s the coolest thing ever; not many people understand. He creates an edge and becomes a different person as he gets locked in! It’s fascinating. Has that look in (his) eye tonight, that normal people don’t have.”

Whatever edge Mahomes was able to conjure may have made the difference in this clash of magnificent passers, because the margin between reaching the Super Bowl and mourning the abrupt end to a special season was thinner than a ’70s glam rockstar. Some might take it for granted, but none of this is a given. Though abnormal, Mahomes has lost conference title games — twice, in overtime; once to Tom Brady, once to Joe Burrow.

This time, he prevailed over Allen and the Bills by a 32-29 score, and even as he celebrated amid ear-splitting hip-hop tracks in the Chiefs’ locker room, Mahomes felt compassion for his vanquished rival.

“I always feel for him — he’s a great player, an amazing competitor and an awesome dude who I respect so much,” Mahomes told me, acknowledging Allen’s pain. “I’m sorry it had to be us. But, you know, we compete, and someone has to win.”

Another instant classic from these two 🤝 #BUFvsKC pic.twitter.com/gCdBHieKR3

— NFL (@NFL) January 27, 2025

That someone — again — was Mahomes. In two weeks, when he takes the field in New Orleans against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, he’ll do so as by far the most accomplished player, at his age, in the history of the sport.

Before his 30th birthday, Mahomes will have appeared in five Super Bowls, with a chance to capture his fourth Lombardi Trophy. He has reached the AFC Championship Game in each of his seven seasons as a starter — seriously — and is one triumph away from history: a third consecutive Super Bowl victory.

To get that chance, he had to be stellar against a Bills team that fully expected to break through and capture the franchise’s first conference title in 31 years.

The superhero nailed the part, as usual, completing 18 of 26 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown, rushing for 43 yards and two more scores, and performing at his absolute best when it mattered most.

And still — because of Allen — it almost wasn’t enough.

Allen (22 of 34, 237 yards, two touchdowns; 39 rushing yards), too, elevated in pivotal junctures, bringing Buffalo back from a 21-10 second-quarter deficit in a tight game that would feature six lead changes. When Kansas City went up 29-22 with 10:14 remaining, Allen coolly directed a nine-play, 70-yard, game-tying touchdown drive.

At that point, the game was already an instant classic. It would get even better.

After Mahomes responded by driving the Chiefs into a first-and-goal situation at the 10, the Bills’ defense stiffened, forcing Kansas City to settle for Harrison Butker’s go-ahead, 35-yard field goal with 3:33 to go.

Following a touchback, Allen jogged onto the field fueled by a profound belief that he’d conjure a game-winning touchdown drive, by any means necessary.

“I felt good, relaxed,” Allen said afterward.

Mahomes? Not so much. As he later admitted, he was a stress case, experiencing an emotion he perpetually shuts out when he’s the quarterback with the ball in his hands.

“It’s stressful,” he said. “I know (Allen) can make it happen. I was hoping, trusting our defense — or wondering (if the Bills scored) if they’d leave me any time.”

Three years earlier on the same field, Mahomes infamously pulled out a divisional-round victory over the Bills after Allen’s touchdown pass gave Buffalo a 3-point lead with 13 seconds remaining. Somehow, Mahomes completed two long throws to set up a score-tying field goal, then threw a game-winning touchdown pass in overtime.

The Bills, who’d lost the 2020 AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead the year before, have subsequently tried to fight through those heartbreaking outcomes, and so many others, and find a way to finish the job.

On Sunday night, with 70 yards between Allen and salvation, it seemed more possible than ever.

This time, the dream ended in surreal fashion. Allen’s 13-yard run gave the Bills a first down at their 42, but two incompletions and a 5-yard pass to Amari Cooper set up a fourth-and-5. Predictably, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo wasn’t passive, overloading his formation to Allen’s right and sending cornerback Trent McDuffie on a blitz.

Under heavy duress from three defenders, Allen kept backpedaling and somehow got off a desperation throw while being plowed to the turf by edge rusher George Karlaftis. The ball seemed to float up there forever, the Bills’ fate hanging in the balance, too. And as it drifted down near the Chiefs’ 35-yard line, somewhat remarkably, Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid was in a position to make a diving, game-saving catch.

The Chiefs make the stop on fourth down!

📺: #BUFvsKC on CBS
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus and Paramount+ pic.twitter.com/s4rXNURB3z

— NFL (@NFL) January 27, 2025

He didn’t complete his half of what would have been a semi-miraculous escape act. The ball eluded his grasp, sending Mahomes back onto the field to do what everyone basically knew he would — pick up a couple of first downs on pinpoint passes, kill the clock and take down another daunting opponent.

The Bills were stunned, but they understood.

“That’s how it’s supposed to be,” said future Hall of Fame edge rusher Von Miller, a two-time Super Bowl champion (with the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams). “Two great teams battled it out, and it just wasn’t ours this time. There’s nothing we could have done differently. It’s nobody’s fault. They just scored more points than we did and time ran out.

“It’s gonna come for Josh — one of these years. He did everything in his power. He kept us in the game. It was right there, too. I thought (Kincaid) caught it. It was up there forever. He just wasn’t able to get it.”

Allen spent a long time in his locker, head slumped, uniform and cleats still on, processing what had happened. He said he felt most of all for his teammates, though he obviously was coping with personal disappointment, too.

If it makes him feel any better — which is unlikely — he is not alone.

The Chiefs have won their last 17 one-score games over the last 13 months — think about that — and their most decorated players understand both how hard that is, and how fierce of a rival they managed to defeat on Sunday.

“I f—ing love that guy,” Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce said of Allen. “He’s one of the most awesome competitors I’ve gone against, and I have so much respect for him. I’d rather play him in the Super Bowl, but we can’t, so the AFC Championship it is.”

So deal with it, America: The Chiefs are AFC champions for the third consecutive season, and even though the Eagles dropped 55 on the Washington Commanders on Sunday, it would be foolish to presume that Mahomes won’t find a way to seize another Lombardi.

That may not be what many football fans want to hear — Chiefs Fatigue is a real thing, apparently — but this team and its locked-in leader aren’t receding into the realm of mortals anytime soon.

While Nagy may view Mahomes as a superhero, expect many others to cast the quarterback as a villain between now and Super Sunday.

“Everybody has to choose a team they go against or that they feel is getting help from someone,” veteran wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins said, referring to the ref-conspiracy theories that are rampant on social media. “Everybody has to choose a villain, and it’s easy to choose someone who’s winning as much as our guy is.

“How can Patrick Mahomes be the villain? The same way Tom Brady could be, and the same way Michael Jordan was. Why do people still talk about MJ pushing off (before hitting the game-winning shot over Bryon Russell in the 1997-98 NBA Finals) almost 30 years later? Because he’s one of the greatest ever to do it, and when he won his sixth, (some) people were tired of watching him win.”

Here’s the thing about Mahomes: You can call him a villain, or you can call him a superhero, but he’s not going away — except in the hours leading up to big games, when he retreats into his dark place and gets that look in his eye.

As Nagy explained to his wife, It’s the coolest thing ever; not many people understand.

Just know that when that transformation happens, the Chiefs become very, very, very hard to beat.

(Top photo: Brooke Sutton / Getty Images)