The Chiefs’ offensive line was completely overwhelmed and gave Patrick Mahomes no chance

There’s no other way to slice it. The Chiefs offensive line got destroyed in their 31-9 Super Bowl loss to the Tamp Bay Buccaneers. Shaq Barrett, Jason Pierre-Paul and the Buccaneers defensive line lived in the backfield.

Patrick Mahomes, as a result, was constantly on the run and ended up completing just 26-of-49 passes for 270 yards. He was sacked three times and hit twice more.

The injuries on the Chiefs’ offensive line were just too much to overcome. Eric Fisher, who injured his achilles in the AFC Championship, and Mitchell Schwartz, out longterm with a back injury, were greatly missed. The fact that the Chiefs were chasing the Buccaneers all night long — Tampa had a 21-6 half-time lead — didn’t make matters any better. Once they were down by multiple scores and it became obvious that they needed to throw, the Buccaneers just teed off and made life impossible.

Mahomes was only sacked one time through three quarters, but that was mainly due to his own mobility. It truly felt like the Buccaneers got pressure on every single passing play.

Even with the papier-mâché offensive line, Mahomes still played a pretty strong game. Late in the game, when the Chiefs were trying to mount an impossible comeback, Mahomes managed to throw a perfect pass while parallel to the ground as a Bucs defensive lineman chased him.

There really wasn’t much Mahomes could do. The Buccaneers defense just pulverized the Chiefs offensive line in pass protection.

Mahomes barely completed half of his pass attempts and he had a handful of incredible throws that were dropped as he was running away from Buccaneers defenders that were trying to rip his head off. When it’s all said and done, don’t be surprised if Mahomes was pressured on 70% of his dropbacks — it really was that bad.

This game showed us that not even a human cyborg like Mahomes can overcome shoddy blocking. Perhaps things would have been different with a fully healthy offensive line, but the Chiefs backups simply had no chance against the ferocious Tampa Bay pass rush.