Something is resolutely American, if I might use those words, about Tom Cruise sitting beside Taylor Swift as they watched Patrick Mahomes deliver his comeback. Something also was American about Swift fuming when she saw her face — again — during ESPN’s broadcast. Monday night in the heartland was not about her or Travis Kelce, who are married after 74 days.
She was in Kansas City to watch her husband’s buddy return to football after two ligaments were torn in his left knee. Mahomes, one of the great quarterbacks of his time, vowed on social media that he would be “stronger than ever.” We won’t know for sure until later this season, but for one evening, while Josh Allen and Caleb Williams and millions were watching, he ruled the proceedings in a 31-10 victory over Denver.
“I just wanted to play. I have done so much rehab and so much work. I wanted to get out there,” said Mahomes, 273 days after his injuries. “I didn’t play my best football, but we beat a good team pretty well. Physically, I have to keep working. I need to get passes down the field a little more. But this work has paid off. A good first week, and I think it went really well.”
Facing the NFL’s sack-happiest defense, Mahomes chose to run — as he always has and always will — and juked up the middle. He broke a tackle and continued to cruise, running through two Broncos as he found the end zone from 15 yards. He screamed. He raised his hands. He lifted a muscle. He wiped dirt off his chest. That quickly, midway through the first quarter, he proved to be elusive and uncatchable as he reached 15.8 miles per hour on his dash. The Arrowhead Stadium kingdom, which hasn’t given up on him while some insiders have, roared and wanted more.
Next he would find Rashee Rice, back from 30 days in the Dallas County Jail, for a 13-yard touchdown pass. Why do you think Swift was upset when she was witnessing the remaking of a superstar, a player the country has enjoyed as he won three Super Bowls and two MVP awards? Rice punted the ball into the stands.
What was next? Plenty of Kenneth Walker III — he was the Super Bowl MVP in Seattle, which unwisely didn’t resign him — on a night when he rushed for 173 yards and a touchdown. And then came Kelce, catching a ball, busting through a defender and running 59 yards to the Broncos 4. This time, Swift was thrilled to be on camera. She hugged her mother-in-law, prayed and put her hands over her face before shoving her brother-in-law, Jason, who was allowed in the suite by the network.
Suddenly, Mahomes was back as a national hit and an early leader for Comeback Player of the Year honors. Can he reach another Super Bowl? Buffalo and Baltimore will say no, but in the past, which teams did the Chiefs whip? The Bills and Ravens. With Walker and Steve Spagnuolo’s defense, who knows? No story would be happier than Mahomes, joined by the Kelce family, winning another championship.
Was he thinking about the knee? “No, not at all,” he said. “When you see the goal line, you’ve got to get into the end zone.”
And Walker? “It’s a mentality and an attitude,” he said.
From the day he chose surgery, Mahomes had an eye on Sept. 14. A player with his injuries wasn’t supposed to be ready until October, at the earliest. He didn’t want to hear it. He spent the spring and summer in deep rehabilitation, only taking time off for a wedding at Madison Square Garden. He cut his hair. He looks sleeker in the face. “I’m a competitor. I signed up for this, and I’m going to go out there and play football,” he said. “That’s how I’ve always rolled, no matter what it is.”
At one point, Cruise hugged Swift. Why was he there? Did she ever see “Eyes Wide Shut” at the movies? Actually, he knows the family but also has a flick coming out, “Digger,” where he doesn’t look like himself as an oil tycoon who drops F-bombs and causes a global environmental crisis. Cruise ended the Paris Olympics and previewed Los Angeles in 2028. Cruise was at the World Cup. Why not Mahomes?
“We saw things come out of him quite fast,” coach Andy Reid said. “He ran the ball a couple of times. He was phenomenal. Once you put him in the game, he’s going to play. He wanted to get one hit and would be back in the flow. I’m not sure I agree with that part.”
Said general manager Brett Veach: “It’s incredible. That’s a guy that defines what leadership and what the face of a franchise should look like. He gave up an entire summer. He just attacked it. Everybody in the building sees it. The level of sacrifice has been an example throughout the entire organization.”
If anyone was watching Bo Nix and the Broncos, they were curious why Drew Brees didn’t accept an offer to quarterback the team in the AFC championship game. It’s a true story, and it didn’t involve his true-blue relationship with coach Sean Payton. Two assistant coaches, Pete Carmichael and former offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, made contact after Nix was lost to an injury. Brees had turned 47 and said no. The assistants didn’t tell Payton, who went with backup Jarrett Stidham and watched him stumble against the Patriots.
“Something happened where I thought there might be a chance where I could play that week,” Brees told the Kelce brothers on a February podcast. No one said anything to Payton until the offseason, when he was “both fascinated and flabbergasted,” said ESPN, which broke the story Monday.
Brees might have been better than Nix, who threw one early touchdown pass and fumbled three times — losing one. The Chiefs rarely lose at home on “Monday Night Football.” Shouldn’t ESPN have pushed for Chicago?
What did it matter? Did anyone think Patrick Mahomes wouldn’t win? “Whoooo, it was rocking,” Kelce said. “He said the goal he had in mind was to be here tonight. He led us to victory.”
Won’t he beat Indianapolis and Miami? Won’t he beat Las Vegas and the Chargers? He’ll be 5-0 when the Chiefs head to Seattle. The game of the year?
See how he has us talking, already.
Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host.