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In the wake of Patrick Mahomes winning his third Super Bowl Trophy and third Super Bowl MVP with the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night, much of Pittsburgh’s sports talk radio scene Monday was reduced to three off-ramps from that main talking point.

• Will Mahomes wind up better than Tom Brady?

• Is Mahomes actually better than Brady already?

• How will the Steelers ever catch up to the Chiefs if those two things prove true?

My quick responses to those answers are:

• unlikely, but possible.

• To this point, he has been.

They never will, so it’s probably best to just avoid him.

Let’s work backward and tackle that third point first.

The Steelers are so far from Mahomes and the Chiefs that it’s folly to even discuss how close they are to catching up with Kansas City. But if history is our guide in the framework of a Brady comparison, the best way to beat Mahomes will be to have somebody else do it for them.

Let’s be honest. The only way the Steelers ever got through Brady and the Patriots was to avoid playing them when it really mattered.

Sure, the Steelers beat Brady and New England at Acrisure Stadium a few times. But that only occurred in the regular season and never in Foxborough with a healthy Brady. They lost to them twice at home in the playoffs (2001–02 and 2004–05 AFC Championship Games) and once on the road (2016–17 AFC Championship Game).

The three times Pittsburgh did make the Super Bowl in the Ben Roethlisbeger-Bill Cowher-Mike Tomlin era, they never had to beat New England to get there. In the 2005–06 and 2010–11 Super Bowl seasons, the Patriots beat the Steelers in the regular season but lost to other teams before facing the Steelers in the AFC bracket.

In 2008, the Patriots didn’t qualify because Brady missed most of the year with a knee injury. Nov. 30 of that year (against Matt Cassel) was the only time the Steelers have ever won at Gillette Stadium.

By extension, if the Steelers ever do get good enough again to even remotely threaten Mahomes and the Chiefs, let’s hope Bart Scott makes a comeback with the New York Jets or the Denver Broncos can talk Jake Plummer off his mushroom farm to help the cause.

I can’t wait, Bart!

In terms of whether Mahomes is going to wind up better than Brady—or if he already is— through age 28, both men have three Super Bowl victories. Brady had two Super Bowl MVPs, and Mahomes can boast three.

Mahomes has already vanquished all of the other big-time AFC quarterbacks and franchises he has needed to beat in the playoffs at least once: Josh Allen and Buffalo, Joe Burrow and Cincinnati, Lamar Jackson and Baltimore.

Although he did lose to Brady twice, once in the 2018-19 AFC playoffs and again when Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat K.C. in Super Bowl LV,.

Brady hadn’t faced all of his longtime AFC rivals in the playoffs by the age of 28. Eventually, though, he’d dusted the likes of Peyton Manning, Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco, Baltimore, Philip Rivers, and the Chargers at least once in the playoffs.

Although he lost to Eli Manning and the Giants twice in the Super Bowl and to Denver three times,.

Both QBs have had great coaches (Bill Belichick and Andy Reid). Both have had dynamic receivers (Randy Moss and Tyreek Hill). Both have had world-class tight ends (Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kecle).

Mahomes does things in a flashier and more improvisational way. Brady was more precise, ruthless, and efficient. Mahomes is more eye-catching, shows a wider skill set, and does more with his legs than Brady ever did. So I’ll go with Mahomes through age 28.

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I know, Steelers fans, I know. I’ll say it before you do. They both got every call and, sure, “Spygate! Deflated footballs, n’at!”

Eh, who am I kidding? You probably said that out loud around the fourth paragraph.

As to the question of whether Mahomes will maintain his greatness as long as Brady did,? I doubt it. Reid is 65 already. Belichick was only 53 when Brady was 28. Brady had yet to be paired with Moss, Gronkowski, Wes Welker, or Julian Edelman.

Brady endured a nine-year drought without a Super Bowl win between Super Bowl XXXIX over the Eagles and Super Bowl XLIX over the Seahawks. But he got to two more in between and five total AFC championships. That’s an incredible ask of Mahomes to do what Brady did between ages 29 and 37 (without even winning another ring)—especially when Reid and Kelce will likely retire along the way.

Not to mention, while Brady’s pocket mastery, vision, intellect, and accuracy never waned, Mahomes’ nimble footwork, escapability, and ability to throw on the move will. He’s not going to be the same quarterback at 37 as he is at 28. He’s going to have to perform more from the pocket than he does now.

Brady always did that, and his game never had to change. He simply morphed into a slightly different version of the same guy for 23 years. Mahomes will have to undergo a significant transformation if he wants to hold on and, as Brady did, eventually track down seven Super Bowl rings.

Well, unless he simply wins the next four in a row as well and immediately renders the whole discussion moot.

Which I’m not entirely ruling out.

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