Ravens Quarterback Under Pressure to Meet Growing Expectations

Patrick Mahomes hasn't won every available championship since ascending into regular Super Bowl contenders, but he and his Kansas City Chiefs have kept the AFC on lock since he entered took the team's starting job seven years ago.

He's never fallen short of the AFC Championship game as the team's quarterback, building a 17-4 career playoff record and winning it all three of the five times he made it to the season finale.

Mahomes has proven to be nearly unbeatable in big games, and every other great quarterback in his conference has suffered for it. Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, widely viewed as the league's best non-Mahomes signal callers, have combined for three MVPs and zero Super Bowl appearances.

They decorated the top of one FOX analyst's list calling out the quarterbacks facing the most pressure entering this season, with Baltimore's Jackson ringing in at #2 in Dave Dameshek's three-man order. Buffalo's Allen, the reigning MVP and most recent Mahomes victim, topped the list, while Cincinnati's Joe Burrow won bronze after a few quiet seasons since challenging the Chiefs himself in the early 2020s.

Jackson didn't even make it far enough to have a go at the Chiefs, who just lost out on the title after two consecutive Lombardi Trophy wins. He made it a game away once, falling just short of the Super Bowl in 2024.

Allen technically won MVP, but Jackson's First Team All-Pro appearance backs up the perception that he's still viewed as one of the NFL's elites. He's got it all but the ring, which Dameshek addresses when clarifying the quarterback's alleged hot seat.

"Lamar Jackson could probably retire tomorrow and still wind up in the Hall of Fame," he says. "The problem is, for all of his deeds in the regular season and some special moments in the postseason, he, like so many AFC quarterbacks...has not even gotten to a Super Bowl. Kind of is a disappointment."