Patrick Mahomes has been through self-described slumps before, including last year, when the Chiefs struggled so mightily late in the season that some were calling them a long shot to win another Super Bowl title.
Then the two-time league MVP played his best football in the postseason, and they won a second straight championship. So even though Mahomes has not played well during a 4-0 start heading into Monday night's game against New Orleans — by his own lofty standards, anyway — he knows things can change in a hurry.
The important thing is to continue working on the details, all those small but often overlooked things, and keep the confidence that he has been through this before. "That's what I learned last year," Mahomes told a small group of reporters Wednesday. "I obviously went through a slump where I didn't play as good at the end of last year, and I just continued to work on it in practice.
And in the playoffs, I thought I played a very high level. And so that's what I've been focusing on right now." Indeed, Mahomes threw for his fewest yards in a full season in six years as a starter last regular season, along with his fewest touchdown passes and most interceptions.