In the aftermath of winning his third Super Bowl on Sunday night, quarterback Patrick Mahomes was already talking about trying to make it back to the biggest game of the season next year.
No team has ever won three Super Bowls in a row. Mahomes realizes how difficult that challenge would be, but he seemed motivated to make it happen when asked what it would mean to him to three-peat next year.
“Yeah, it’s legendary,” Mahomes said in his Monday morning press conference. “No one’s ever done it. And we know it’s legendary to win back-to-back. … We’d heard it all week, we had talked to the guys about it, and we felt like we had the best opportunity that we’d ever had to go out and do that. I’d [fallen] short the year before.
“I mean, all you can do is come back with a fresh mindset, knowing it’s going to be even harder. And we’ve got to continue to play our best football. We’ll celebrate these next few weeks and then we’ll get right back at it.”
But after wining three of the last five Super Bowls, the Chiefs have already solidified themselves as a dynasty. Mahomes said the team’s place in history “means a ton.”
“Not only for me but just, I know how hard these guys work,” Mahomes said. “I know how hard these guys get after it. I know how hard the coaches work. I believe we’re the hardest-working team in the NFL. And for all that hard work to pay off, that’s something that we always preach — is we believe we work for those moments, those in-the-game moments. And we prepare ourselves for those.
“And to be able to have our stamp on this, great NFL history, it’s something that I’ll never take for granted. And hopefully, we can continue to let that thing go.”
The Mahomes of the 2023 season is different from the Mahomes of the 2020 season in that he knows a lot more about what it takes to repeat. So if the Chiefs are improbably going to win three in a row, Mahomes’ attitude and approach will be key to doing so.
“I mean, I think [what’s] always the challenge, whenever you win and what I’ve learned is, how can you get better? How can you continue to get better? Because that’s what it takes,” Mahomes said. “In this league, everybody gets better every single year. And so, whenever you win a championship, you celebrate, and you’re like, let’s just go do it again. And I think something that I learned from the first one that we lost when we tried to get the back-to-back, is, everybody was like, ‘We’re just going to run it back and do it again. That’s just what we’re going to do.’ And I feel like we fell short that way.
“So now, it’s, let’s get better. Let’s find a way — whatever that small thing is to get better at, every single person individually, and then as a team. And let’s just come with our best football and our best effort. And hopefully, that’s coming back and we’ll be able to be [in] I think it’s New Orleans and on this podium again.”
