Bill Belichick: Patrick Mahomes’ self-criticism is “the attitude of a champion”

After the Chiefs improved to 3-0 with a win over the Falcons on Sunday night, Patrick Mahomes said he needs to play better. Bill Belichick liked to hear that.

Belichick told Pat McAfee that Mahomes focusing on himself is exactly the kind of mindset that makes him great, and that makes his teammates want to step up their games.

“One of the things that really jumped out at me was last night when they interviewed Mahomes,” Belichick said. “They’re 3-0 and you could easily sit there and say they’re on course and here we go again, big win in Atlanta and all that, but there’s Mahomes talking about how bad they’re playing and how much harder they need to work and improve. That’s the attitude of a champion right there. It just jumps off the screen at you. They won a big game and what he’s talking about is how much work they have to do, how much better they need to be, how it all starts with him. I’d still take his performance over a lot of other guys in this league, but here he is putting it on his shoulders. When he says that and you’re another member of the team, it’s hard for you not to take the same attitude and say, If Patrick feels like we’ve got to play better and he’s got to play better, then maybe I have to play better too. I thought that was great leadership.”

Mahomes hasn’t played particularly well this season, at least by his own standards, but Belichick thinks holding himself to high standards is one of the reasons Mahomes may lead the Chiefs to their third straight championship.