You want my dream Super Bowl match-up? I’ll give it to you right now.

The defending NFL champion Kansas City Chiefs are, at this early stage of the season, the best team in pro football. Patrick Mahomes proved that again Monday night with four touchdown passes and a fifth running in KC’s easy 34-20 win over the Ravens in Baltimore, where an empty stadium certainly took away home-field advantage.

You can talk about Buffalo with amazing Josh Allen or New England with better-than-expected Cam Newton, or any other team in the AFC, but the Chiefs are the class of that side of the bracket, for sure. Mahomes was 31 of 42 with no interceptions and an off-the-chart quarterback rating of 133.5, twice what Lamar Jackson did.

Their opponent in Super Bowl LV in Tampa will come from the three strongest divisions in the NFC. Three of those teams are unbeaten at 3-0, but the Bears benched Mitch Trubisky and turned to Nick Foles to pull out a third straight four-point win.

At this point, you would have to say Seattle with sensational Russell Wilson or Green Bay with revitalized Aaron Rogers. In order for the 49ers to have a chance to make it back to the big game, Jimmy Garoppolo has to return sooner and better from a high ankle sprain.

But the would-be contenders have to beat Tampa Bay and 43-year-old Tom Brady to do it. And Brady had his first truly Patriotic game Sunday in a solid win over the Broncos in Denver. Brady threw three touchdown passes, no picks, and looked sharper than he had at any point over his last two seasons in New England.

And he finally got Rob Gronkowski into play to go with the bevvy of wide receivers and running backs that are going to make the Buccaneers better every week from now on. Brady showed his old strength with ropes down and across the field, plus renewed touch dropping dimes into waiting hands all afternoon.

Brady went 25-38 for QB rating of 115. He will remain more understated than the 20-year younger Mahomes, but if the old guy and young buck avoid injuries, they’ll meet on TB12’s home turf on February 7.

 

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