Patrick Mahomes will take the field for the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday for the first time as a father of three children.
Mahomes and his wife Brittany welcomed their newest daughter, Golden Raye, on Jan. 12. The quarterback was fortunate enough to have earned a bye week for the weekend of Golden Raye’s arrival, but returned to practice just days later.
Now he is set to face the Houston Texans in the divisional round playoff game. He bears the historic pressure of trying to lead his team to a third straight Super Bowl – something no team has ever done – alongside the personal pressure of fathering another newborn girl.
As the only active quarterback with a realistic shot to contend with Tom Brady in all-time legacy discussion, Mahomes faces a much higher-stakes task than Brady did when he took the field as a father of three for the first time.
Brady welcomed his third child, daughter Vivian Lake, on Dec. 5, 2012 – weeks before any do-or-die playoff action.
But the stakes were still pretty high. And like Mahomes, Brady’s first game after having his third child also came against the Houston Texans.
Brady and the New England Patriots welcomed a Texans team that led the AFC at the time with an 11-1 record into Gilette Stadium for a Monday Night Football showdown. Brady had the Patriots at a 9-3 record, as they looked to chase Houston down for the top spot.
And Brady didn’t miss a beat.
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The former Patriots quarterback had a signature game, throwing for 296 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions, as New England dominated 42-14. Brady even had a whopping six rushing yards on one carry, which was a good night on the ground for him by his standards in those days.
After the game, Brady relished the win as the perfect ending to the week, as he informed reporters that his then-wife, Giselle Bundchen, was doing well after the birth.
“She is doing very well,” Brady told reporters of Bundchen after the game. “It’s been a great week, a great way to end it.”
Mahomes has a high bar to live up to. But if he does pull off a similar performance to the one Brady did in 2012, his performance may be even more amplified in how it is recognized.
With a divisional round victory, Mahomes and the Chiefs will be just two wins away from taking home their unprecedented third straight Super Bowl title. The spotlight will be even brighter on Mahomes and his wife on Saturday than it was on Brady in 2012, as Taylor Swift is set to attend, possibly alongside Brittany.
And like Brady’s 2012 game, Saturday may be the last time Mahomes ever plays football right after having a child.
“I’m good with three for right now,” he told reporters on Tuesday when asked whether he would have another child. “We’ll see down the line, maybe, but my goal was always three, so we’ve had three, and we’ll stick there for a while and see if we need to come back and get another one later on.”
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