Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs is a different QB than Bucs have had in the past

TAMPA – When Bucs head coach and former defensive coordinator Todd Bowles was just a few hundred yards away from his biggest career win, he suffered intentional amnesia.

He said he couldn't remember the brilliant game plan from Super Bowl 55 that kept Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs from scoring a touchdown in a 31-9 win that gave the Bucs their second Lombardi trophy.

“When you retire, you don’t forget (the Super Bowl),” Bowles said after practice Saturday, with Raymond James Stadium looking over his shoulder. “When you try to win a game, you forget about it, and I forgot that part.”

In that game, the blitz-happy Bowles changed his personality as a play-caller and the Bucs defense dominated the injury-plagued Chiefs.

Mahomes was pressured 29 times, but 27 times he came with four or fewer pass rushers. Instead of playing a high safety, Bowles played two 87% of the time and passed Mahomes on just 9% of Kansas City's offensive plays.

Meanwhile, Mahomes has undergone a transformation of his own.

The league's deadliest gunslinger has put his impulses on hold and played a more complementary game to take advantage of the Chiefs' dominant defense and lack of explosive pass-catchers downfield.

Mahomes has completed just eight touchdown passes and entered Sunday tied for the NFL lead with nine interceptions with the Bucs' Baker Mayfield and the Packers' Jordan Love.

But here are the only numbers that really matter for Mahomes and the Chiefs: 7-0.

“I mean, of course I want to be perfect,” Mahomes told reporters last week. “I want to be great. I don't want to put our defense in bad positions… But at the end of the day, I want to win, and whatever we have to do to win, I'm good with it.

“Whether it’s scoring touchdowns, whether it’s not scoring a lot of touchdowns, whether it’s running the football, whatever it is. When it comes to playing defense to win football games. I just want to win the football game and I think we can do that very well.”

Mahomes' development as a quarterback is visible, but the Chiefs are doing their best to bring in playmakers.

They traded for Titans receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who caught two passes for 29 yards after just a few days of practice. With rookie receiver Xavier Worthy, a first-round pick, there is speed on the outside. Running back Kareem Hunt is back, replacing Isiah Pacheco, who broke his fibula in Week 2.

And of course, Mahomes relies more on his tight ends, particularly his connection with Travis Kelce.

“I don't use that term 'game manager' because … that's a bad word,” Bucs co-defensive coordinator Larry Foote said with a laugh. “They run the ball more. They run the ball more and even from my time as a player – the West Coast offense with Andy Reid in Philadelphia – it's been somewhat inferior.

“That’s what it looks like when I see it. It looks like Patrick Mahomes only played three tight ends on the field in his days in Philadelphia, and Patrick Mahomes continues to evolve. He sees it, he’s still moving his legs and he’s making it difficult for the defense.”

Mahomes catches the Bucs defense at the right time. While relatively healthy — the only injured starter is cornerback Jamel Dean (hamstring injury) — Bowles' unit doesn't resemble the unit that held the Chiefs at bay in the Super Bowl.

The Bucs entered Sunday ranked 30th in total defense, 29th in pass defense and 28th in point defense as they traveled to Kansas City for Monday night's game at Arrowhead Stadium.

On the other hand, the Chiefs rank fifth in total defense and have allowed just 13 touchdowns this season. They ranked 17th in pass defense and second against the run, allowing just 82.3 rushing yards per game.

This is a team you don't want to let fall behind because Mahomes is no longer pushing to score points.

“I don’t want to say more conservative,” Mahomes said. “But once you take the lead, you definitely know the defense is going to get stopped. We want to go in there and get as many points as possible. It's not that we don't want to score.

“But in certain situations where we may have been pressuring and trying to force something or make something happen, knowing that our defense can be stopped and we can get the ball back to a better position on the field speaks for itself the whole team, and that’s something I’ve developed throughout my career.”

Ironically, Mayfield and Mahomes worked together to produce one of the wildest college football games ever in 2016, when Mayfield's Oklahoma Sooners defeated Mahomes and Texas Tech 66-59. Mayfield threw for 545 yards and seven touchdowns, while Mahomes passed for 734 yards and five TDs and rushed for 85 yards and two more scores.

“We had to score every single drive in the second half to win the game,” Mayfield said. “It was an incredible game and an incredible atmosphere. I just won’t forget the back and forth.”

Monday's game has a better chance of being a shutout than a shootout. But Mahomes is 2-1 against Bowles' Bucs defense. He defeated Tom Brady twice in Tampa – 27-24 in 2020 and 41-31 in 2022.

Mahomes is still capable of otherworldly plays, but with three Super Bowl rings, his main concern is winning.

“If you look at the numbers, I think in the Super Bowl – I watched the game earlier – we probably only scored 10 runs,” Foote said. “They just run the ball more. They run the ball, play complementary football, if you want to put it that way, but they run the ball. But he's still there, in the third half he puts that cape on.”

• • •

Sign up for the Sports Today newsletter for daily coverage of the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.

Never miss the latest on your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on Instagram, X and Facebook.