Patrick Mahomes names his favorite regular-season victory (Getty Images)
2 seed in the AFC. Because a Miami win handed Kansas City the No, fans inside the stadium were tracking the Dolphins-Patriots game,. You just knew subconsciously that the Patriots had lost and we were going to get that home-field in the playoffs.
“I didn’t even play that good of a game,” Mahomes said. Reporters asked Mahomes whether any regular-season win stood out. He went straight to the Chargers game, and the score wasn’t the reason. Then he described what he did remember. “I remember being on the field, and it wasn’t even about us and me winning the game, but hearing the fans and how excited they were getting. Back then, the first and second seeds both earned byes, a setup the NFL has since changed.
Mahomes is 117-35 counting the postseason, and the game he loves most is one where his own performance hardly mattered. In 2019, it told him something good had happened. In 2018, it fed an energy he says he should have held back.
That says something about him. “I think I’ve only played there once, and it was Sunday night,” Mahomes said. What he took from it was the sound of a crowd that had just learned a playoff bye was coming. He remembers it as loud. He also remembers his own part in how it went. “I remember it being very loud and them having a lot of passion. I might have been too amped up early in the game. Both memories come down to a stadium full of noise. Sunday night will tell him if the lesson stuck.