Patrick Mahomes has always seemed to save his best work for the most important down. With the ability to scramble and improvise with his legs and make magic with his arm, Mahomes has made a habit of demoralizing opponents by turning bad situations on third down into drive-extending ones for Kansas City.
Those big plays fueled the Chiefs’ success the past three seasons. The lack of them doomed Kansas City in the Super Bowl when Mahomes didn’t complete a single third-down pass until late in the fourth quarter of a 31-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night.
The Chiefs came into the game having converted 49.5% of their third-down tries this season for the second-best mark in the NFL.