The Chiefs weren’t in the Super Bowl. But it sure felt like they were
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- High non‑blitz pressure has driven most Super Bowl winners in last 8 years.
- Seahawks posted a 52.8% overall Super Bowl pressure rate (Next Gen record).
- Chiefs were 19th in pressure rate in 2025 despite heavy blitzing; need pass rush help.
For the first time in four years, the NFL crowned a champion Sunday after a game that didn’t include the Chiefs.
But it sure felt like they were there.
OK, actually, the Seahawks felt more like the typical Chiefs opponent — like the team the Chiefs have played against in every last one of these Super Bowls.
Kenneth Walker left as the Super Bowl LX Most Valuable Player after the Seahawks blew out the Patriots 29-13 on Sunday, an honor he deserved after rushing for the most yards in the title game since Terrell Davis in the 1997 season. But the Seahawks didn’t win the game because of their ground game — or any part of their offense, for that matter.
They won because they made life miserable for Drake Maye. Seattle sacked the Patriots quarterback six times, tying a Super Bowl record, and flipped two of those sacks into a turnover and another of them into a touchdown.
That’s why the Seahawks won.
And that’s where the relation to the Chiefs — or the Chiefs’ typical Super Bowl opponents, rather — comes into play.
In the last eight years, there have been two distinct formulas to winning on Super Bowl Sunday:
1) Pressure the quarterback at a remarkably high rate — without even needing to blitz to do it.
2) Employ Patrick Mahomes.
For eight straight years, the Super Bowl has been won by a team that’s either tallied a 38% pressure rate or better on non-blitzes in the game, or it’s been won by Mahomes.
That’s it. Those are the two options.
It’s more than correlation. There’s causation to both recipes.
The Seahawks broke a Next Gen Stats-era (since 2018) record Sunday with a 52.8% pressure rate in a Super Bowl. They fooled Maye with some blitzes, but they still got home with four at a 48% clip. It wrecked whatever game plan the Patriots might have brought across the country to California.
That’s not new.
It’s not even unique to the last 366 days.
In 2024, the Eagles’ defensive line demolished the Chiefs and didn’t give Mahomes much of a chance. Do you recall how many times the Eagles blitzed last year?
Zero.
In 2023, the Chiefs (and Mahomes) won. In 2022, the Chiefs (and Mahomes) won.
In 2021, the Rams pressured Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow on 43% of his dropbacks, including 38% when rushing four or fewer.
A year earlier, the Buccaneers had Mahomes running for his life, and they didn’t need to bring extra rushers to do it. When bringing three or four rushers, they pressured him on 45% of his dropbacks. He ran the length of nearly five football fields that night. The Chiefs spent the ensuing offseason revamping their offsensive line to respond to it.
That came a year after, in 2019, when the Chiefs and Mahomes won.
And in 2018, after the Patriots snuck by the Chiefs in overtime in the AFC Championship Game, they pressured the Rams on 45% of the passing plays, including 40% on non-blitzes.
In the Mahomes era, those are the two formulas. Pressure the quarterback with four, or employ that quarterback. There have been no exceptions.
There is just one team that has the opportunity to do both.
There are 31 teams unable to change their employment status with Patrick Mahomes. The one with Patrick Mahomes can alter the other — even if it’s quite evidently going to require some work to get there.
But that’s the point.
That’s where the work should start.
It might be enticing to select a game-changing running back with the ninth overall pick in this year’s draft, for example — because watching Walker in the Super Bowl was a tad different experience than watching Isiah Pacheco as the lead back in Kansas City this year, and that difference will be reflected in the contract offers for the two free agents.
But pass rushes continue to win titles.
They just won one ... after they won another last year against the Chiefs. Oh, and won in 2020 against the Chiefs, too.
Even in the three Super Bowls the Chiefs have won in this era, they still had to sidestep high quarterback pressure rates to do it.
How far off are the Chiefs? In 2025, they were 19th in pressure rate, but the context of that statistic makes it far worse. They were 19th despite blitzing at the third-highest rate in the league. Steve Spagnuolo has never shied away from bringing blitzes, but he blitzed in 2025 because it became evident he had little other choice if he prioritized moving the quarterback.
Chris Jones had the lowest pressure rate (10.4%) he’s recorded since Next Gen Stats began tracking the data. He also continues to be double-teamed at a high rate. George Karlaftis actually finished 18th in the NFL in total pressures. But that’s about all the Chiefs could consistently count on.
It’s hard to find elite pass rushers, and the Chiefs’ ineffective search over the past five years has made it look even harder. They’re expensive in free agency, and they require premium draft capital.
But that’s one thing the Chiefs possess that they haven’t had over the past five years — the draft capital.
The Chiefs have several needs. Sure, they could absolutely use an infusion on the offensive side of the football.
But the pass rush would be a good place to start.
Because it’s where yet another season just finished.
This story was originally published February 9, 2026 at 12:06 PM with the headline "The Chiefs weren’t in the Super Bowl. But it sure felt like they were."