SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The most precarious lead in the NFL these days might be a double-digit one over Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Mahomes engineered his 12th comeback from a deficit of at least 10 points in the past four seasons on Sunday when the Chiefs rallied for a 44-23 victory over the San Francisco 49ers after falling behind 10-0 in the first quarter.
The Chiefs have won 12 of 17 games since the start of 2019 with Mahomes at quarterback after falling behind by at least 10 points, including all three games in the 2019 postseason.
Kansas City is just as likely to win by double-digits after facing the early deficit like they did against the Niners as the Chiefs are to lose the game.
It’s a far cry from the rest of the NFL. While the Chiefs have a .706 winning percentage in these scenarios, the rest of the league has a mark of just .154. No other QB who has faced at least three double-digit deficits has won even half, with Drew Brees’ 6-7 mark the second best.
In fact, the only other QB besides Mahomes to win more than 70% of his starts since 2019 is Aaron Rodgers, who has a .733 winning percentage in all starts.
Mahomes reached a few more milestones on Sunday when he won for the 55th time, tying Hall of Famer Ken Stabler for the most in a QB’s first 70 starts in the Super Bowl era. Otto Graham is the only quarterback in NFL history with more with 56.
Mahomes also had his eighth career game with at least 400 yards passing and at least three TDs. Only Brees (12), Peyton Manning (11), Dan Marino (11) and Tom Brady (8) have more. Those QBs have all started at least 242 games, while Mahomes has only 70.
STRUGGLING STARS
Two of the most accomplished quarterbacks in NFL history are off to rough starts with Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers both at 3-4 after back-to-back losses.
This marked the second time that Brady and Rodgers both lost in consecutive weeks with the only other coming in the final two weeks of the 2015 season.
Rodgers has a losing record through seven games for the first time as a starter and Brady’s only previous losing record at this juncture came in 2002 — the only healthy season that he failed to make the playoffs.
