The Big 12 has long been regarded as being below the caliber of the SEC and some of the other top Power-5 conferences in college football, but it has now produced a Super Bowl champion quarterback in Patrick Mahomes. And Mahomes actually believes playing in the conference contributed to his championship.
Mahomes joined NFL Network’s postgame show on Sunday after helping his Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20. He was asked by LaDainian Tomlinson how he rallied back from down 20-10 after throwing an interception in the fourth quarter and shared his reason.
“I kind of joke around about it sometimes, but I was kind of blessed to be in the Big 12 where you had to go and score, and if you threw an interception, you got the ball back, you try to score again. I’ve kind of had that mindset where no matter what happens the last play, just focus on the next play,” Mahomes said, crediting his college conference.
Mahomes also credited his coaches, especially offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, for preaching that mindset.
“Coach Eric Bieniemy is big on that … having people around me and coaches around me instills the confidence, I focus on the next play no matter what I did the previous play.”
Mahomes did not play his best game, but he came through in the end, and you can probably thank that mentality for helping the former Texas Tech quarterback come through.
