One of the storylines of the Super Bowl is that this will be the first in which both quarterbacks are black.
It is another milestone for the league as it attempts to overcome its history of racial stereotyping of players because of race. Now that Tom Brady has retired, the question is which one of the young quarterbacks will be best of the next generation.
Mahomes is currently in the lead with his third Super Bowl appearance in his sixth season. He is 1-1 in the first two. Jalen Hurts is making his first appearance in his third year. Joe Burrow has one appearance and lost it. Josh Allen has yet to get there.
The winner of this game will have a leg up on next year because the Super Bowl loser has won it the year after losing it the previous year only since the 1972 perfect Dolphins did it. Brady did it once but didnt win it year after his other two losses.
And while Brady’s record of seven Super Bowl rings is not likely to be matched any time soon, they might have a shot at four to match what Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana did. And Bart Starr won five title, three before the Super Bowl era started.
It is also forgotten that while Brady won three in his first five years in 2001, 03 and 04, he didn’t win the fourth one until after the 2014 season when Russell Wilson threw the pass from the one.
So he had a nine-year gap between his third and fourth wins while losing the Super Bowl after the 2007 and 2011 seasons to the Giants. He also was injured in the 2008 season opener and missed the rest of that year.
So if Mahomes wins his second this year, he would need only two in the next eight years to match Brady’s four in his first 14 years.
Brady then lost to Denver in playoffs in 2015 and appeared in the next three Super Bowls, beating Atlanta in the 28-3 game, losing to Philadelphia and then beating the Rams in 2016, 2017 and 2018. He lost to Tennessee in 2019 and then beat the Rams in Tampa in 2020 for his seventh and final one.
Brady also had some close calls along the way. Take away the tuck rule, Seattle’s pass from the one yard line and Atlanta offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan’s decision not to run three plays and kick a field goal for an 11point lead with four minutes left, Brady could be 4-5 in Super Bowls instead of 7-3. He woud still be a first ballot HOFer but would he be considered the GOAT? We will never know.
Now we get to watch Mahomes and Hurts try to make their mark on history.