The Kansas City Chiefs have arguably the best quarterback in the NFL in Patrick Mahomes, and most coaches would trade places in a heartbeat for the opportunity to coach him.
But the 29-year-old QB struggled in the team’s 40-22 blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans, putting forth one of his worst efforts of the season (257 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions, six sacks taken).
Most agree that Sunday’s outing wasn’t indicative of a typical Mahomes performance. And while head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy feel the weight of putting Mahomes in position to be successful every week, passing game coordinator Joe Bleymaier also feels some pressure in coaching Mahomes.
Two years into his tenure working directly with Mahomes, Bleymaier recently made some concerning comments to ESPN about what it’ like working with the two-time NFL MVP.
“[Mahomes’ success] makes [coaching him] so much more stressful,” Bleymaier said. “You feel the burden as a coach and as you’re putting a game plan together to not waste his abilities. To not go through a season where you don’t give him the opportunity.
“To not screw it up as the coaching staff. So rather than feeling like this just unbridled excitement that we could do anything, it’s actually more like a terror, like we cannot be the reason that we screwed this guy up or this team up.”
Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes reacts in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX at Ceasars Superdome.
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Bleymaier also confessed he’s in a “constant” state of second-guessing himself, stating he often questions if he and the rest of the coaches are using Mahomes properly and surrounding him with the right talent.
Given Kansas City hasn’t missed playing in an AFC Championship Game since Mahomes took over as the starter in 2018, many Chiefs fans took to social media to put Bleymaier on blast for complaining about working with a quarterback many believe is a generational talent.
“I genuinely am baffled that a coach would admit this mentality. Either you coach to win or you coach not to lose, and coaching not to lose is operating based in fear. If you want to understand why this team doesn’t blow anyone out, this is it right here,” one fan stated.
“Out of all the emotions to describe as a coach when you have Patrick Mahomes at quarterback, ‘stressful’ and ‘burdened’ should be pretty low on the list,” another fan added.
“This mindset by the coach is poison,” one user chimed in.
“If a coach thinks like this he shouldn’t be coaching lol” another user quipped.
“This is a wild thing to let out publicly as a coach,” remarked one fan.
