Championships matter, especially when it comes to the legacies of athletes. Dan Marino is looked at a certain way because he never won a Super Bowl. Shaquille O'Neal constantly chides Charles Barkley -- in fact, it is his go-to move when they get in an argument -- that Sir Charles doesn't own a ring. Eli Manning is likely getting into the Hall of Fame because he has two Super Bowl titles. It is the ultimate trump card for discussing sports history.
Which could be a problem for NFL fans in Buffalo, Baltimore, Cincinnati and 12 other AFC cities. There is a good chance their first ballot Hall of Fame quarterbacks will end their career with zero Super Bowl titles.
Right now, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are hogging up all the hardware. In less than two week, the Chiefs will play the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX -- their fifth Super Bowl appearance in six seasons. No franchise has come close to that kind of dominance in such a period of time. The Patriots from 2014 to 2018 went four times in five years. The 1990-1993 Buffalo Bills went four times in a row (still a record) but won none of those Super Bowls and hadn't been there before or since. These Chiefs are doing this while going through several versions of itself, with the main constants being Mahomes, Andy Reid and Travis Kelce.
As long as Mahomes is playing, it seems that the Chiefs will always be in the conversation. Andy Reid is 66, so there's no telling how long he intends to coach. He doesn't look like someone on the cusp of retiring, but you never know. Kelce will turn 36 during next season, so he's clearly in his last few years of football. But Mahomes holds the key.
And therein lies the problem for everyone else in the AFC: When will we get a turn?
This could be the golden age of quarterbacks in the AFC. At this moment, you have Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow in that conference -- four insanely great QBs. There's also CJ Stroud, Justin Herbert and upstarts Bo Nix and Drake Maye. You'd think that Allen, Lamar and Burrow will eventually get their chance at pulling down a ring, but that's not necessarily true. In fact, it is unlikely.
For one, the Chiefs will have to tail off. If we're being honest, these last two seasons have been the time to catch Kansas City napping. I mean, last year's receiving corps was a season long joke and they still won the Super Bowl. This season watched KC snatch several wins in the final moments of games, and they kept winning them. If the Chiefs do slip up one of these years, it opens the door for the other great quarterbacks to go get their ring.
But that door opened by the Chiefs losing doesn't mean everyone else gets to eat. Each season only gets one Super Bowl champion. If the Chiefs aren't there, only Lamar, Allen or Burrow could get there. Just like in 2021 when the Bengals finally broke through by beating the Chiefs in the AFC title game, it was just Cincinnati. Allen and Jackson were stuffed. If Allen makes it, Burrow and Lamar Jackson didn't.
That's the reality of the AFC right now. Someone will not win their franchise a Super Bowl. Someone will be their generation's Dan Marino.
Marino spent the 1980s and 1990s in an AFC with John Elway and Jim Kelly. From 1986 to 1993, Elway or Kelly went to 7 of 8 Super Bowls (Boomer Esiason's Bengals went in 1988). Ironically, they didn't win any of those seven Super Bowls ... but NFC quarterbacks named Phil Simms, Doug Williams, Jeff Hostetler, Mark Rypien, Joe Montana (twice) and Troy Aikman (twice) did. Marino did get there in 1984 but never got back. Warren Moon never got there. Neither did Bernie Kosar.
Joe Burrow is sort of Marino already. Burrow, like Marino, reached the Super Bowl in his second season in the NFL. He hasn't been back, and with Mahomes seemingly stacking Super Bowl apperances while Lamar Jackson is stacking MVPs and Josh Allen is left watching his seasons end a bit too early, there's no guarantee that Burrow will get back. That's still better than either Jackson or Allen, who just want a taste.
In the NBA, one of the legendary things about Michael Jordan's career is that he kept guys like Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley and others from winning their championships. In the 1990s, he stunted the entire Eastern Conference from getting to a Finals. That's what Mahomes is doing right now in the AFC. The Chiefs won't get to every Super Bowl during Mahomes time there, but the few times he slips up will be a massive opportunity that only one of those Hall of Fame quarterbacks will be able to maximize. That was Burrow in 2021. Who will it be if and when it happens again?
Maybe one of these guys end up in the NFC at some point. If Burrow, Jackson or Allen went to the NFC they would immediately be the best quarterback in that conference. I mean, who is it now? Jalen Hurts? Jared Goff? Jayden Daniels? Dak Prescott? Brock Purdy? In the Mahomes era, the NFC has sent to the Super Bowl: Hurts twice, Purdy, Matthew Stafford (who should be retiring in the near future), Tom Brady (who has retired) and Jimmy Garoppolo. Sam Darnold reached the Pro Bowl in the NFC but Mahomes didn't make it in the AFC. That's how tough the competition is over there.
That's how tough it is to reach you ultimate goals.
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