We are prisoners of the moment far too often - reactionary on big-picture topics rather than taking a beat to think subjects through. That may be what social media has wrought.
I can fall into that trap, too. I'm emotional. For goodness' sake, I talk with my hands (and I don't apologize for it).
But Patrick Mahomes has the proper perspective on all those talking heads comparing him to Tom Brady and those who have prematurely declared him the greatest of all time.
"I mean, I'm not even close to halfway," said Mahomes early last week. "I haven't put a lot of thought into it. Your goal is to be the best player that you can be, and I know I'm blessed to be with a lot of great players around me. So right now, it's doing whatever I can to beat a great 49ers team and trying to get that third ring. And then, if you ask me that question in like 15 years, then I'll see if I can get close to seven. But seven seems like a long way away still."
So even after winning his third title - and man oh man, was Mahomes cash money with the game on the line (13-of-16 for 100 yards and a TD in KC's final two drives, both must-haves) - the Chiefs' quarterback didn't fall into the trap so many others covering the game did, keeping everything in perspective.
"Yeah, I hear it," said Mahomes. "I mean, to me, it's always going to be tough because Brady beat me in the Super Bowl. That's one thing he'll always have over my head.
"But it gives me something to strive for every single day. Just chasing greatness. And whenever I'm tired, and I don't want to work out, I know that I have to do it in order to be in these moments like this."
My advice today is simple: don't listen to anyone other than Mahomes regarding Brady. He knows how difficult it is to climb to the top of the mountain year after year and that he's still got many miles to go before he sleeps.
BETTER TO GIVE THAN RECEIVE
We're not even 24 hours removed from Kyle Shanahan's decision to take the ball to start overtime. The 49ers head coach's rationale had some depth to it.
"It's just something we talked about," said Shanahan. "None of us have a ton of experience with (the new overtime rules). But we went through all the analytics and talked to those guys. We just thought it would be better. We wanted the ball third. If both teams matched and scored, we wanted to be the ones who had the chance to go win. So got that field goal, so knew we had to hold them to at least a field goal, and if we did, we thought it was in our hands after that."
The only problem was that there was no third possession. A fatigued San Fran defense couldn't hold off the inevitable, Mr. Mahomes. There's also the revelation from the Niners players that they were unaware of the new overtime rules.
"You know what? I didn't even realize the playoff rules were different in overtime," said fullback Kyle Juszczyk. So I assumed you just wanted the ball because you scored a touchdown and won. But I guess that's not the case. So I don't totally know the strategy there."
"I didn't even know about the new playoff overtime rule, so it was a surprise to me," added defensive tackle Arik Armstead. "I didn't even really know what was going on in terms of that."
Excuse me? Say what? It's part of the head coach's job to make sure his players know the ins and outs of the game. Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones said their sideline knew what was up.
"We talked for two weeks about new overtime rules," he said. "Give the ball to the opponent. If we score, we go for 2."
The bigger picture bottom line goes back to what I've said about Shanahan since he's ascended to the head job - he's a brilliant offensive strategist but not untouchable as a head coach. He had the more talented team. But Shanahan ignored Christian McCaffrey for large stretches of the game. Though his ballsy fourth-down call and conversion helped San Fran retake the lead in the fourth quarter, he'll have to wear this loss, as he did in Super Bowl LIV (loss to Chiefs with Jimmy G) and, in part, as the coordinator in Super Bowl LI (28-3 failure).
"There's nothing different to say," Shanahan explained. "I don't care how you lose when you lose Super Bowls, especially ones you think you can pull off, it hurts. But I think when you're in the NFL, I think every team should hurt except for one at the end. We've gotten pretty damn close, but we haven't pulled it off, and we're hurting right now."