Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is potentially entering the second half of his NFL career.
His first half was better than anybody could have imagined, a nine-year run that is second to no other player in league history. Unfortunately, the NFL is a “what have you done for me lately” business.
Although it’s an extremely high bar, Mahomes’ stats have been on a downward trend over the past few years. In 2025 he experienced his first losing season, which culminated in him tearing the ACL and LCL in his left knee in Week 15.
Patrick Mahomes Falls Short of Topping NFL’s Most Clutch QBs List
Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report recently put together his list of the 10 most current clutch quarterbacks in the NFL. Gagnon gave Mahomes is due for everything he’s accomplished over the years, but it still wasn’t enough to earn the top spot.
“Mahomes is indisputably one of the most clutch playoff performers in league history. In the last five years, the two-time MVP has a 113.2 passer rating with seven touchdown throws and one interception on 94 passes in the fourth quarter of one-score playoff games. He’s led a tied-for-league-high 17 game-winning drives in the regular season in that time frame, but he’s orchestrated six more in the playoffs (as well as five fourth-quarter comebacks, while no other quarterback has more than three during that span). The reel starts with his late-game heroics in Kansas City’s Super Bowl LVIII victory over the 49ers following the 2023 season, but his repeated fourth-quarter successes have made such moments seem routine.”
Coming in ahead of Mahomes was Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, who was named league MVP last season. While Stafford had a much better year than Mahomes in 2025, his overall resume pales in comparison.
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Here is Gagnon’s reasoning for putting Stafford over Mahomes:
“The reigning MVP edges out the legendary Mahomes, mainly because of what he’s done for us lately. Stafford has an eye-popping 115.4 rating in the fourth quarter of one-score games since 2024. But if you extend back to 2020, that number only drops slightly to 107.0. Most recently, in the 2025 playoffs, the 38-year-old led two game-winning drives in the fourth quarter (bringing his total to five in the postseason since 2021) while posting a 109.3 rating with a one-score margin in the final frame of those victories.”
Stafford is certainly great in his own right, and has a strong case to be a Hall of Famer. However, his 7-6 postseason record versus Mahomes’ 17-4 record is glaring. As good as Stafford was last season, he couldn’t get the Rams into the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Mahomes has incredibly made the Super Bowl more years than not. That’s pretty much the definition of clutch.
Patrick Mahomes Falls Short of No. 1 on List of NFL’s Most Clutch QBs