Now That Time Has Passes, How Good Was Patrick Mahomes 2022-23 Season?

As we sit in the post-NFL world, and the confetti has settled from another party in Kansas City, it’s time to look back at just how good Patrick Mahomes’ season was.

And for this, we pose a question that may be too ridiculous to answer:

Has the expectation level he has set for himself overshadowed the fact that he might’ve had the best season by a quarterback in NFL history?

First, let’s start with his regular season

Despite losing 1 of the best receivers in football, Mahomes won his second MVP and became the first MVP since Kurt Warner to also hoist the Lombardi. But how does he compare against some of the other best?

For this, let’s compare Mahomes to the other 3 QBs to surpass 5,000 passing yards, 40 TDs, and a QB rate over 100 (Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Dan Marino).

Going off of QB Rate, Peyton Manning’s 2013 still checks out as the best year, as in a balanced era he would surpass 6,000 yards and a QBR of 118.8.

Now, with Mahomes being the only one on this list to play in an 18-week regular season, his total numbers get the bump of the additional game, but if we cherry picked his worst game of the year against the Colts out for his QBR, he would actually have a 109.

Coming off one of the best regular seasons by a quarterback, Mahomes went on to have potentially one of the best postseasons as well, as he posted 703 yards and 7 touchdowns to 0 interceptions on a 72% completion percentage.

For a QB with over 100 attempts, that’s the third-best completion percentage in NFL history, behind himself in 2021 and Nick Foles in 2017.

But, of the top members in this grouping, who had the best postseason performance in a balanced era, determined by QB Rate?

After inflation, Mahomes this past year would have been the 4th-best passer rating in NFL history, behind only himself, Joe Flacco, and Brees.

These three QBs certainly all played in different fashions, as you can make an argument that Mahomes skill set is the best combination of Brees and Flacco, as Mahomes was actually more accurate than one of the most precise passers in Brees, but also led Flacco in yards per game despite Flacco’s 19 yards per completion.

Regardless of how you break it down, Mahomes’ season was one of the best of all time, but it could have been even better in another season.

Despite NFL offenses still heavily relying on the passing game, this is the second consecutive year that all passing metrics deflated.

For example, if Mahomes’ 2022 season was played in the 2020 league average, he would throw for 5,771 yards instead of 5,250. If you go even further back to 2015, he would have thrown for 5,858, which is 345 yards per game.

For a more comprehensive look at his year, here is how his 2022 passer rating would compare when inflated to the recent three decades.

Judging from the league average trends, Mahomes would have more separation from the rest of his competition the further back in league history he goes.

This is due mostly to his accuracy, which allows him to still produce even with less passing attempts. But it also adds a lot of appreciation for his deep ball accuracy, as the attempts down the field were completed at a higher rate in older eras of the NFL.