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QB Patrick Mahomes gives Chiefs a chance at 3-peat, says 'I want to give all glory to God'

By Jon Ackerman Jan 27, 2025
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes holds up the AFC Championship trophy, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Aiken)

With a Psalm 121 bracelet on his left wrist, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes raised yet another Lamar Hunt trophy Sunday night, signifying his team’s third consecutive AFC championship (and fifth in the past six years), thus booking the Chiefs a third straight Super Bowl berth. Having won the last two, Kansas City has a chance to become the first team in NFL history to claim three Super Bowl titles in a row.

Mahomes, as he’s done so many times before, played expertly when it mattered most. He threw for 245 yards on 18-of-26 passing, with one touchdown pass and no interceptions. He also carried the ball 11 times for 43 yards and added two more TDs. That helped KC beat the Buffalo Bills, 32-29, marking the fourth time in the past five seasons that Kansas City has ended Buffalo’s season in the playoffs.

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The 32 points scored marked Kansas City’s highest output of the season, and the tight game followed a season-long trend: The Chiefs won a franchise-record 15 regular-season games, and eleven of those victories were by one score. Their record earned them a first-round postseason bye, and ensured they’d play at home in Arrowhead Stadium.

Last season, Kansas City became the ninth team to claim back-to-back Super Bowl championships, but by advancing to Super Bowl LIX (in New Orleans on Feb. 9), it is the first such team to return to the final game a third straight season.

After securing the victory, Mahomes was interviewed by CBS on the field and asked to describe the opportunity at hand.

“First off, I want to give all glory to God,” he said. “Without Him, none of this is possible, and I truly mean that. I’m just so proud of my teammates, how they responded. That was a great football team. I’m just at a loss for words. I’m excited for New Orleans.”

He later thanked God on X.

The white bracelet with red lettering on Mahomes’ left wrist is a new addition this season to the numerous bracelets he often wears on both arms (during games and away from the field). This one has “Psalm 121:1-2” and “Courage To Climb” written in red, and was given to numerous players on the Chiefs from team chaplain Marcellus Casey. The verse reads, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains — where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” It’s the theme Casey has been preaching all season in team chapel services.

Last month on “The Franchise,” a series of episodes giving a behind-the-scenes look at the Chiefs, Casey was shown preaching to players and coaches during one of his pregame chapels. Casey shared a clip on Instagram and said in his caption, “My focus has always been to preach Jesus to encourage the players and the coaches. Honored to share a glimpse of what God is doing this season with the @chiefs.” Mahomes was one of many players shown in the service.

On Monday morning, Casey shared Sunday’s video of Mahomes giving glory to God after the game, and described Mahomes in the caption: “Pretty simple life. Love’s his wife. Love’s his kids. Studies God’s word. Prays. Works hard. Lives with humility. Admits mistakes. Supports teammates. Gives glory to God in victory.”

Mahomes has also spoken openly about his faith with the media in the weeks leading up to Super Bowls.

“It sets the example for who I have to be every single day and what I want to strive to be,” he said a year ago in Las Vegas. “My faith has helped me become a better person, it’s helped me become a better leader, a better role model and something I live by every single day.”

“My Christian faith plays a role in everything that I do,” he shared two years ago in Phoenix. “I always ask God to lead me in the right direction and let me be who I am for His name. So it has a role in everything that I do. Obviously we’ll be on that huge stage in the Super Bowl that He’s given me, and I want to make sure I’m glorifying Him while I do it.”

He added, “I feel like I’ve grown in my faith these last few years and I think that’s given me more sense of who I am and why I play the game. … It just kind of relieves the pressure of playing a football game because I know that I’m on that football field to glorify Him before everything. So it’s not about winning or losing, it’s about going out there and being the best that I can in His name.”

Mahomes also shared that the passage in Acts 20:7-12 impacted him so much that he got a tattoo.

“It’s about being half in and half out on God. That’s the interpretation I took from it, and how you can’t be half in and half out,” Mahomes said in Phoenix. “So that was the Bible verse that kind of stuck with me, that told me that I needed to be fully in.”

Mahomes is often spotted praying before games, usually by one of the goalposts. In those moments, he says he’s thanking God.

“Before every game, I walk the field and I do a prayer at the goalpost,” he said in 2020 in a video for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. “I just thank God for those opportunities and I thank God for letting me be on a stage where I can glorify Him. The biggest thing that I pray for is that whatever happens, win or lose, success or failure, that I’m glorifying Him.”

In what’s becoming an annual tradition, Mahomes will again have the massive stage of the Super Bowl to glorify God. He and the Chiefs will take on a somewhat familiar foe in the Philadelphia Eagles, whom Kansas City defeated two years ago in Super Bowl LVII. Kickoff for the rematch will be at 6:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 9.

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