It’s Super Bowl weekend and all eyes immediately go to the quarterback matchup. Kansas City Chiefs signal-caller Patrick Mahomes is already one of the best quarterbacks of all time while San Francisco 49ers’ Brock Purdy is just a few years removed from being the last pick in the NFL draft.
Andrew Fillipponi of the Audacy original podcast “1st & Pod” pushed back against the argument that you can’t pick against Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl.
“It’s not as black and white as ‘Well, the Chiefs have the better quarterback so they’re going to win,’” Fillipponi said (19:50 in player above). “I’ve just heard a lot of ‘You can’t bet against Mahomes.’ I’ve just heard a lot of that. ‘You can’t pick against Mahomes.’”
Mahomes is 2-1 in the Super Bowl in his young career, only losing to Tom Brady while beating Jalen Hurts and Jimmy Garoppolo.
“Nick Foles beat Tom Brady in the Super Bowl, OK? That happened. A journeyman backup quarterback beat the greatest of all time in an MVP season for him,” Fillipponi continued. “When Russell Wilson was in his second year he beat Peyton Manning when they were the most prolific offense in the entire NFL that year. It happens.”
While the quarterback matchup can be a key part of any game, especially the Super Bowl, that doesn’t necessarily mean the better quarterback is going to win.
“It’s not just ‘Well, Mahomes is so invincible in these games you can’t pick against him.’ You absolutely can,” Fillipponi exclaimed. “I bet if we went through all 57 Super Bowls, yeah, the better quarterback probably won more than he lost, but I bet it’s like a 60-40 percentage at best.”