It’s All About Mah-mania!
Patrick Mahomes. You can’t say those words without invoking some kind of over enthusiastic rant and if you’re a K.C. fan that rant will be all the rage about how great the Kansas City Chiefs offense will be this year. It’s called, Mahomes mania… or “Mah-mania!”
Mah-mania is getting so out of hand that we need to be thinking about how to talk these fans down from the high cloud they’re on without having them hurt themselves… or landing on somebody. To do that, first we must understand Mah-mania and how it came to fruition. So, if you think you already have “this-ease” then it might be best if you looked away from the bright light and perhaps go and binge-watch the Murdoch Mysteries until we’re done here.
Some will tell you this all started back in the spring of 2017 when the Chiefs jumped up and selected the Texas Tech QB with the 10th pick in the draft thereby finally… finally… selecting a 1st round QB for the first time since the Shaman of Gushi hid his weed stash in the Gobi Desert (a few hundred centuries ago). However, the reality is it all has been building and building and building up since the last time the Chiefs won the Super Bowl following the 1969 season.
The True Culturing of This Addiction
The Chiefs Hall of Fame QB Len Dawson was the presumptive starter for 3 more seasons after 1969 and then he split starts with backup QB Mike Livingston during his final 3 years. Livingston hung around until the 1970’s ended and in 1979 the Chiefs did what they’d never done before: select a first round QB. That was Steve Fuller (btw, they passed on Joe Montana for take Fuller), the 23rd pick in the 1979 draft. Fuller’s career highlight — aside from 28 TDs and 41 INTs — was being the backup QB for the 1985 Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears. He was the Chiefs starter… but never a star for K.C. and so… 4 years later, in 1983, the Chiefs, for only the second time ever, selected a QB in the first round again: Todd Blackledge, with the 7th overall pick. Of course, the problem was, 1983 was a stellar draft year and to select Blackledge they passed up: Bruce Matthews, OT (Hall of Fame), Jim Kelly, QB (Hall of Fame), Dan Marino, QB (Hall of Fame), and Darrell Green, CB (Hall of Fame).
All you need to know about Todd Blackledge is this: 29 TDs – 38 INTs, 5,286 passing yards, with a QB rating of 60.2. An absolute failure as a QB (he made his way as a TV football analyst) which meant that the decade of the 1980’s was spent by Chiefs fans as an outsider, looking in — at all the success other teams were having — while waiting for the team to go to the well once again, and select another first round QB. However, the Chiefs organization took their time doing that.
- The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t select another QB in the first round, the rest of the 1980’s. 80’s music came and went, the Berlin Wall came down, E.T., Reaganomics, and Back to the Future… also passed us by… but no other 1st round QBs were taken by the Chiefs.
- The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t select a QB in the first round in the 1990’s either. Six Michael Jordan championships, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the phrase- Wazzup?, the Olsen twins, the personal computer became popular, Pulp Fiction was a happening thing and the Internet blew up… but no other 1st round QBs for the Chiefs.
- The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t select a QB in the first round in the 2000’s, for some strange reasons. Flip-phone, Tiger Woods, Jessica Simpson, My Space, iPods, President Bush (who we hated but now miss), Guitar Hero, post 9/11 life, and An Inconvenient Truth… have all passed us by without any other QBs in the 1st round for the Chiefs.
- Then, 34 years since the last time the Chiefs went to the 1st round to pick a QB… finally, in 2017, the Chiefs traded away their first round pick (the 27th pick overall), and they traded way their 3rd round pick (91st overall), and they traded away their first round pick in 2018 (the 22nd pick overall)…. for the rights to select QB Patrick Mahomes II.
Once Kansas City Chiefs fans had a 1st round quarterback to cheer for… they were told they’d have to wait at least one year before they could see him play.
Scraps-a-roni… the San Francisco Treat!
I dont know if you’ve ever owned a dog, who for some reason lost it’s appetite… but the experts say if you offer them small amounts of human food (fish, chicken, lunch meat, a dab of peanut butter), those kinds of scraps, and also under feed them, their appetite comes back soon enough. That’s essentially what’s happened for the past 25 years in Kansas City… with the 49ers playing the role of the dog owner, and the Chiefs, the dog.
Two seasons of Hall of Fame quarterbacking by Joe Montana, in his waning years, Steve DeBerg, Steve Bono, Elvis Grbac and Alex Smith have all whetted Chiefs fans whistles for a top level QB… without paying the price… and they all came from the San Francisco 49ers table scraps.
Now, that the Chiefs have, PAID THE PRICE, in terms of draft capital, some fans aren’t satisfied, and understandably so because it’s been quite a price to pay. On the other hand, the lack of a first round QB choice had gotten so egregious in K.C. that the Chiefs leadership may have been willing to overpay to get their man, especially after — reportedly — having another QB drafted right out from under their noses the year before in the name of Paxton Lynch, by a division rival no less, Denver Broncos.
Now, of course, Chiefs fans should thank their Lucky Charms that they didn’t take Lynch as he appears headed for the compost bin of disposable razor QBs.
Do you have any idea how many addictions are begun as the result of a destructive home environment? For decades the Chiefs have been a self-destructive organization. So much so, that once the playoffs arrive, even if the Chiefs are in the playoffs, fans expect them to lose. Dangle a new found first round QB in front of the Chiefs fans and it’s like candy for the baby. More like opium for the masses.
The Patrick Mahomes Mystique
Patrick Mahomes II could be seen throwing out the first pitch for the K.C. Royals a month ago. Patrick Mahomes has almost reinvented “Jorts”… that is, jeans made into shorts. He’s saying all the right things too, like refusing to sign advertising contracts until he’s actually accomplished something. He’s got his own nickname on the team: Patty Cakes. His hair cut has become a hair style craze that fans desire (go figure). Now, the Chiefs are getting some national attention they’ve never received before because Patrick Mahomes is out in front and garnering that kind of glam focus. Here he can be seen on Good Morning Football, the hit NFL Network show that airs each morning from 6:00 AM to 9: AM then re-airs from 9-to-noon, M-F:
https://youtu.be/xjYBxMUzyTY
So, what is the cure for Mah-mania? That’s simple:
–> M-O-R-E M-A-H-O-M-E-S!!!!
Perhaps my favorite play of Patrick Mahomes in a Chiefs uniform so far, was a play he made vs. the Bengals in the preseason. @PatrickMahomes5 #Chiefs #ArrowheadOne #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/JLVd3GDwpB
— Ladner Morse (@Laddiemorse) June 19, 2018
This is the Patrick Mahomes & Andy Reid Vulcan Mind Meld play.
Or you could call it a "Double Reverse Flea Flicker Screen Pass" play. You can see how high Mahomes' Midichlorian Count was and how Andy Reid must have been doing Jedi backflips. #Chiefs #ChiefsKingdom #ArrowheadOne pic.twitter.com/UvL1kgNgil— Ladner Morse (@Laddiemorse) June 19, 2018
That play is amazing when you consider there are five football transfers: 1) Center to QB, 2) QB to WR #1, 3) WR #1 to WR #2, 4) WR #2 to the QB, 5) QB to WR #1. Just the kind of high-wire Houdini Act of a play that makes Andy Reid wets his pants. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see Brian Baldinger’s breakdown on Patrick Mahomes, you’ll enjoy this:
If you are viewing this in Apple News and would like to join the Discussion, [GO HERE.](http://arrowheadone.com/chiefs-cure-mahomes-mania/#disqus_thread)