Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman made a post about Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes back in 2019 that he probably wishes he could take back.
When a podcaster pointed out that Mahomes had already thrown 36 percent of Aikman's career touchdown passes in just eight percent of the amount of games that he played, Aikman took to X and replied with "talk to me when when he has 33% of my Super Bowl Titles."
The Chiefs would go on to win the Super Bowl that season, giving Mahomes 33 percent of Aikman's titles. Kansas City has won two more championships since then, giving Mahomes the exact amount of Super Bowl wins that Aikman has. After each championship win, Chiefs fans have bombarded Aikman's post with snarky replies.
Aikman joined the Pardon My Take podcast on Wednesday and was asked why he posted that response five years ago.
"So here's what happened," Aikman said. "I don't even hardly get on Twitter (X). But in 2019, I just happened to get on it. And I was looking at my replies and this one comes up. Whoever this writer was, like why would he compare Patrick Mahomes, his stats, to me? I was never known as a stats guy. Why wouldn't he compare Mahomes' stats to Dan Marino or Joe Montana, or somebody like that? So, when I read it I felt like the writer was taking a shot at me. You know, I said this jackass, I mean like what? And does yards or any of that even matter? Does touchdowns even matter? At the end of the day, for a quarterback, the only thing that matters is winning championships. I mean, that's all that we're ultimately judged on. So, at the end of the day, the championships, in my opinion - and I know that sounds self-serving because I was able to win three - but that's what matters. So, I thought this writer was - I just thought - what do numbers mean? It's irrelevant. So, my reply was really a shot back at the writer to say, hey, this is what matters. It was never a shot at Patrick Mahomes."
Aikman probably should have just swallowed his pride and admitted that it was a bad post, but like many athletes, he just can't. He's likely telling the truth about his frustration not being with Mahomes, but rather the podcaster (who he refers to a writer, but it was a verbal statement on a podcast), but that still doesn't make his response any better.
Maybe Aikman never envisioned Mahomes matching his three Super Bowl wins, but thinking that he wouldn't even get one was a risky stance to take. His explanation of how quarterbacks are judged doesn't make a lot of sense either. While QBs are measured by championships more than any other position, to say that stats are irrelevant is asinine.
There are multiple QBs in the Hall of Fame who never won a Super Bowl, such as Marino (who Aikman mentions), Jim Kelly, Warren Moon and Dan Fouts. Other QBs without a championship such as Philip Rivers and Matt Ryan will have legitimate shots at making the HOF.
All of those players listed have more career passing yards and touchdowns than Aikman. Perhaps he should ask one of those guys how relevant stats are. As for Mahomes, he only needs just a little over 3,000 more passing yards to pass Aikman's career total, and already has 60 more touchdowns than him.
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