Super Bowl: Patrick Mahomes has to make you wonder . . . can he match or exceed what Tom Brady did?

GLENDALE, Ariz.

Tom Brady’s unmatched record of Super Bowl success all of a sudden seems a little less unreachable.

There are a lot of things that have to happen before anyone seriously threatens his standards of seven rings and 10 Super Bowl appearances, a resume that dwarfs that of any other player in the history of the game — including Hall of Famers. Upon his recent retirement, he was easily the greatest of all time, and no one else seemed close. His status — based not only on wins but longevity — couldn’t be argued and was said to be something we would never again witness.

That’s probably still true.

But that was before Sunday, when the Kansas City Kid stepped up, put a franchise on his back and carried his team to a Super Bowl victory.

Patrick Mahomes, who left the field at halftime looking as if he might not be able to walk let alone run in the second half, came back from the long break and gutted Kansas City to a 38-35 victory over the Eagles.

That was before he spent his evening puffing victory cigars and unwrapping a pro wrestling-style championship belt — both of which he had been saving for the occasion. He flopped the belt over his shoulder and began parading around the locker room while celebrating the victory he had engineered.

It gave him two Super Bowl wins in five seasons as a full- time starter and, at age 27, made him the only quarterback left in the league with multiple titles. The rest of the new generation of passers he often is grouped with — Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, maybe Trevor Lawrence — haven’t won one and in many cases have yet to reach the Super Bowl stage.

If Mahomes can play another decade and a half at the level he already has shown, he someday could be talked about alongside — or even above — the recently-retired face of the league.

There was a time, don’t forget, when Joe Montana’s exploits seemed as if they would stand the test of eternity.

Then came Brady.

Now comes Mahomes.

“He strives to be the greatest,” coach Andy Reid said. “Without saying anything, that’s the way he works. I mean, he wants to be the greatest player ever. That’s what he wants to do. That’s the way he goes about his business.”

Watching Mahomes now is a little like watching those from other sports whose careers seemed destined for all-time historical supremacy. LeBron James, Tiger Woods — there were things that could be seen from their prime athletic late-20s games that didn’t just dominate their contemporaries but made what they eventually would become in the larger scopes of their sports seem plausible if not predetermined.

Things certainly can go askew, as they did for Woods, but Mahomes seems to have the character traits that won’t allow his playing career to be derailed by distractions. Judging by the fiery speech he delivered after being handed the Lombardi Trophy and named the game’s MVP on Sunday night, he already is thinking about a third title and those that may come after it.

“We’re not done!” he said.

When his history is written, this game will have its own chapter in the Book of Mahomes.

It won’t necessarily be for what he did (21-for-27, three TDs, 187 yards, 131.8 passer rating) or because it was one of the most exciting and evenly-matched Super Bowls of recent memory that will brand this game into his lore. It is how he did it — and how he looked late in the first half — that will be recalled.

It seemed as if Mahomes’ and Kansas City’s chances were finished when T.J. Edwards wrapped him up around that already sprained ankle just before the break. The look on Mahomes’ face told the entire story of the physical anguish he was experiencing and was a reflection of the emotional pain his fans were going through. He hopped gingerly to the sideline, slumped on the bench and put his head on the shoulder of a trainer, and it seemed as if the Eagles had won the Super Bowl right then and there.

When the Eagles kicked a field goal to go ahead 24-14 as time expired in the second quarter, it was just a matter of how much they could run the score up in the next 30 minutes.

But Mahomes was far from finished. By extension, Kansas City wasn’t, either.

Whatever miraculous juju he employed to get his battered ankle in shape during the extended halftime, courtesy of Rihanna, will become the go-to balm for players for years to come (he said he did not have an injection but that trainers “did a lot of stuff to get it ready”).

Mostly, though, it was just his fortitude and desire more than any tape or pharmacology that allowed him to run back on the field for the second half after limping into the locker room at the end of the second quarter.

There will be plenty of time to weigh Mahomes against the bar that Brady set. By definition, there must be. Unless they start playing multiple Super Bowls per year, he won’t be able to start legitimately threatening Brady’s almost unbelievable accomplishments until he has stacked multiple stretches like this one he just completed with two titles and three appearances in a four-year span.

And for now, this Super Bowl victory is plenty to digest and appreciate. There is no reason to rush history. It’s far better to enjoy the present.

But if anyone playing now eventually can start to creep up on those Brady numbers, Mahomes is the guy.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.