Stephen A. Smith announces Patrick Mahomes’ new criteria for reentering GOAT debate.

“The reason why you’ve got to get at least five, you gotta overcome the two bad performances in the Super Bowl.”

 

It was this time last week that we were already having GOAT debates about Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady under the assumption that the.

Kansas City Chiefs would beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX and complete an unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat.

As the old cliché goes, what a difference a week makes.

Not only did the Chiefs’ 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles solidify that Brady — who called the game for Fox — is, in fact.

the Greatest of All-Time, but Mahomes’ performance was so poor that it brought an end to such conversations for the foreseeable future.

While Mahomes was always going to leave New Orleans with at least three fewer Lombardi Trophies than Brady’s seven.

the clock on a potential three-peat is now reset, meaning that it will be at least three more years .

and likely longer — before the Chiefs quarterback can do anything that the now-Fox analyst didn’t do from a Super Bowl standpoint.

So what can Patrick Mahomes do to reignite the GOAT debate he was very much a part of just four days ago? Enter Stephen A. Smith.

“What Mahomes needs to do to get in the GOAT conversation again: You gotta win two more titles.

‘Cause you gotta get at least five,” Smith said on Wednesday’s episode of First Take. “

And the reason why you’ve got to get at least five, you gotta overcome the two bad performances in the Super Bowl.”

Stephen A. Smith: "What Mahomes needs to do to get in the GOAT conversation again: You gotta win two more titles. 'Cause you gotta get at least five. And the reason why you've got to get at least five, you gotta overcome the two bad performances in the Super Bowl." pic.twitter.com/V4NBeOmgFc

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 12, 2025

Smith went on to point out that Mahomes hasn’t just quarterbacked the Chiefs to two Super Bowl losses.

but that both defeats — including one to Tom Brady’s Buccaneers at the end of the 2020 season — came in blowout fashion.

Meanwhile, Brady’s three Super Bowl losses came by three, four and eight points, respectively, an apparent indication .

that those championship defeats were less embarrassing than the two Mahomes has now been a part of.

“In the Super Bowl losses to Tampa Bay and now Philadelphia, he’s been outscored by 40. Both games, they’ve lost by more than 18 points.

Only him and John Elway have that distinction as starting quarterbacks in the Super Bowl,” Smith noted. “

That’s hard to overcome.

One title ain’t gonna do that.

You need two more to get back in the conversation.”

But while all losses might not be created equally, the same could be said of wins.

which is why Smith believes that Mahomes doesn’t need to match Brady’s seven titles for the debate to be restarted.

For now, however, we know we have at least a two-year break from the GOAT conversation according to sports media’s most prominent debater.

whose criteria will surely be adhered to if/when the Chiefs are once again playing in the Super Bowl a year from now.