Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I’ve been told by multiple sources that he was not referring to sports dynasties, but he might as well have been.
If one team is enjoying all of the success over a given period, there is an equal level of failure on the other side. Call it Soppe’s Corollary, or give Newton credit, but it was true in the 1990s when Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls were dominating the NBA and it’s true in the present day with Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs.
Situations like this naturally lead to a ton of “What ifs?” and those are fun to speculate upon. We will get there should the Chiefs pull off the NFL’s first three-peat, but for now, let’s take a look at the résumés that were crippled by His Airness’ presence and those suffering the same fate under Mahomes’ reign (he needs a cool nickname for this to truly be a 1-for-1 comparison).
Patrick Mahomes Victim: Josh Allen
Josh Allen is carrying a franchise. He’s the face of everything Buffalo Bills-related and has the support of maybe the most loyal fanbase in the NFL. He’s an easy-to-like kid who has grown tremendously as a young player and checks every statistical box you could ask for.
Seasons with 28+ passing TDs and 12+ rushing TDs:
- 2023 Josh Allen
- 2024 Josh Allen
This franchise has never won an NFL championship, and they’ve clung to Allen as their savior, their way off of the ringless list.
He’s football’s Karl Malone. The Mailman was Utah basketball for my generation. He signed a decade-long deal with the franchise and, throughout it, elevated a consistently mediocre team to the level of consistent contenders.
That is until the bogeyman came to town. Jordan’s Bulls dispatched Malone’s Jazz in consecutive NBA Finals; Utah, to this day, remains titleless. We are a long way from that being the case in Buffalo during the Allen era, but they’ve been knocked out of the postseason by the Chiefs in consecutive seasons and three of the past four.
Is Allen destined to be current-day Dan Marino or Malone — all the counting numbers you could possibly ask for without ever reaching the mountaintop?
Patrick Mahomes has Josh Allen's number🫥
No one has ever lost to the same QB four times in the postseason…before Allen pic.twitter.com/7R6FKAZNwQ
— DraftKings Network (@DKNetwork) January 28, 2025
Patrick Mahomes Victim: Joe Burrow
The impact of an all-time great isn’t always felt in head-to-head matchups but sometimes by the failure to capitalize on the rare chance to scale the mountain. Like Patrick Ewing, Joe Burrow was a highly touted prep who was the first overall pick during the era of a dynasty; like the former New York Knicks great, Burrow missed out on what could be one of his very few chances.
The Bengals downed the Chiefs in the 2021 AFC title game, a result that raised eyebrows and is a résumé builder. That said, Burrow and Co. couldn’t turn the upset win into a Lombardi Trophy — the Los Angeles Rams beat them in the Super Bowl.
Sound familiar?
When MJ took his talents to the diamond, Ewing’s Knicks represented the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals — they promptly lost to the Houston Rockets in a seven-game series (they lost all four quarters in the decisive game).
He’s a top-30 scorer and rebounder in NBA history with his number in the rafters at Madison Square Garden. However, his sparkling résumé is missing a ring despite being one of the rare Eastern Conference greats in this era with the chance to sniff the ultimate prize.
Patrick Mahomes Victim: Justin Herbert
Allen’s (playoff losses at the hands of a great) and Burrow’s (missed opportunity following the rare win over an all-timer) profiles are the easiest to recall when combing through history. What about the players who never have a chance to hit their ceiling indirectly because of a generational talent?
Justin Herbert was a top-12 pick from a Pac-10/12 school that now calls the Big Ten home, checking boxes that Reggie Miller did. Both also shared a division with a transcendent player who capped how well they could position themselves for success.
Professional sports are a game of inches — there’s a reason that seeding is so important. In the NFL these days, it means a bye; in the NBA it means a favorable matchup and home-court advantage in a series setting. Miller was a 2012 inductee to the Hall of Fame and had a great career, but it was a ringless one, and that is among the first notes that come up when discussing his legacy.
Herbert isn’t that. Not yet. He’s only 26 years old, but the trajectory is a concern. He’s been one-and-done in both of his postseasons, bowing out before the top-seeded Chiefs had to even take the field in each appearance.
Like Miller, Herbert was drafted three years after the GOAT candidate who dominated during his prime, thus leaving the door open for a late peak if he doesn’t align with that of Mahomes’. However, it’s hard to not connect the dots and worry that Herbert’s career could be that of a bridesmaid, never the bride.
Patrick Mahomes Victim: Ben Roethlisberger
Big Ben Roethlisberger had an outstanding career, but every great wants to go out on top. Ray Lewis and Peyton Manning are two recent examples of all-timers who pulled off the “ride off into the sunset” dream and, as a result, our lasting impression is as good as it gets.
Roethlisberger won a pair of Super Bowls during his first five seasons, but he largely was labeled as a game manager for those. His statistics took off later in his career, and guess who was standing in his way?
In 2018, Roethlisberger threw for a career-high 34 touchdowns and 5,129 yards, but the Pittsburgh Steelers fell half a game short of qualifying for the postseason. In Week 2 of that season, Mahomes, in his third career start, went into Heinz Field and handed Pittsburgh an L (the Steelers trailed for 95.9% of their offensive snaps in that game). At the time, that was a future HOF QB (4.5-point favorite) losing in a shootout to a snot-nosed kid.
In 2020, Roethlisberger had another big year (33 passing scores), and the Steelers won 12 games, but the Chiefs posted a 14-win campaign and were part of the reason that Pittsburgh had to play on Wild Card Weekend — a game they lost.
Roethlisberger showed some signs of decline in 2021, but Pittsburgh got into the playoffs; that gave him the dream of a Peyton Manning ending, one where he could do just enough to support his teammates in a Super Bowl run.
It wasn’t meant to be.
Mahomes’ Chiefs scored 35 straight points as the host Chiefs dominated the Steelers in what proved to be Roethlisberger’s final game. Charles Barkley is a two-time HOF inductee and is a part of the NBA’s story in a major way, but his best season (1993 MVP) had a chance to be a career-defining moment the way Roethlisberger’s swan song could have been. Jordan ended it by beating his Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals.
Lamar Jackson also fits Barkley’s mold (13 wins and an MVP but led for zero seconds during a home AFC title game against the Chiefs in 2023), as well as Jalen Hurts (Mahomes defeated him in a Super Bowl). We are hopeful that the best is yet to come from both of these dynamic QBs, but we said the same thing after Sir Charles was deemed to have the best season in 1993 — he never got back to the NBA Finals, and that was his last top-five MVP finish.
Barkley is an all-time great with a hole in his résumé, something Roethlisberger didn’t have to worry about being older than Mahomes but a career outcome that is a risk for both Jackson and Hurts.
Patrick Mahomes Victim: Chris Jones
OK, so this one isn’t as evident as the others, but there is only so much credit to go around; when a player/coach tandem like Mahomes/Andy Reid accounts for much of it (or Jordan/Phil Jackson), some critical pieces are left underappreciated, even if their résumé is sparkling.
Chris Jones is the only player in NFL history with at least six sacks and four passes defended in seven of his first eight seasons. The ONLY one. Neither Watt brother (T.J. had six and J.J. five) did it. Hall of Famer Julius Peppers (six) didn’t do it. The leader of the Chiefs’ defense before Jones, Justin Houston (five), didn’t do it, nor did another all-timer who started his career as a part of the Chiefs Kingdom, Jared Allen.
You get the idea.
Scottie Pippen is one of the greatest to ever do it. While the NBA acknowledged him as a top-40 player in the history of the game, his star doesn’t shine as bright in the public eye because of the greatness that surrounded him. Jones’ impact on the game is immense and football purists will remember what he brought to the table during this dynasty, but like Pippen, it’ll be in a Robin sense more than a stand-alone superhero.
