Former Steelers' Safety Admitted He Picked Patrick Mahomes Off So Much He Lacked Faith The Young QB Would Succeed

Many Pittsburgh Steelers teammates recently banded together to support Troy Polamalu's Resilience Bowl. The Resilience Bowl supports Pittsburgh's Neighborhood Resilience Project, which helps families dealing with trauma. Polamalu and his wife, Theodora, have been longtime supporters. 

The fundraising event occurred at Acrisure Stadium and included a celebrity flag football game. Many old and new Steelers came together to support the effort. Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin coached, and the players included Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, James Harrison, Jerome Bettis, Heath Miller, Demar Hamlin, Kurt Angle, and Wiz Khalifa, among others. 

Another Polamalu teammate who lent a hand is former Steelers safety Robert Golden. Golden spent six seasons with the Steelers before spending a final season with the Kansas City Chiefs. While Golden was in Pittsburgh, he spoke with Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 

After catching up on Golden's new passion, which is education, Batko asked him about his time with the Chiefs. He was there in 2018, Patrick Mahomes' second season with the team. While Mahomes was drafted 10th overall in 2017, he spent most of year one learning behind veteran Alex Smith. When Golden joined their practice squad, he lined up against Mahomes, who was expected to start for his second season. 

Batko asked Golden if he ever intercepted Mahomes. He said that he did, so often, in fact, that he doubted Mahomes would be as successful as expected. 

"Oh, I picked him off several times," Golden said with a laugh. "I still have the footage on my phone, too. To go from playing with Ben Roethlisberger for six years, seeing how he operates in practice, then seeing how Patrick Mahomes operated in practice, truthfully speaking, I didn't believe all the gimmicks he does on a day-in, day-out basis was gonna work in the NFL just based on the amount of times I was able to pick him off. But to see that he was able to take what he was doing in practice and actually do it in a game and succeed and become one of the best quarterbacks doing it."

While Golden might not have believed what Mahomes was doing back in 2018, he believes it now. He went on to tell Batko that he firmly thinks Mahomes is the only player who can unseat Tom Brady as the undisputed Greatest of all Time (GOAT). 

Mahomes quickly made a believer out of everyone. That first season as a starter, he came out of the gates hot, beating the Steelers in Week 2. Despite Roethlisberger having a good game, Mahomes had a better one. He threw for 326 yards, six touchdowns, with no interceptions, giving him a passer rating of 154.8. His fifth touchdown broke the NFL record for most touchdown passes in the first three games of a quarterback's career. 

The Chiefs went to the playoffs, ultimately losing to Brady and the New England Patriots 37-31. Mahomes went to the Pro Bowl, won an ESPY as the best NFL Player of 2018, and was named the NFL MVP. He hasn't stopped. Since then, he has won three Super Bowls, being named MVP of each. 

Steelers Underestimated Patrick Mahomes In 2018

Golden isn't the only Steeler who admits to underestimating Mahomes. TJ Watt, drafted in the same class as Mahomes, recently spoke about that 2018 game. He said they learned a lesson about Mahomes that day. He said they just didn't know what to expect; Mahomes was a bit of an unknown. Watt said they expected the Chiefs to run the ball, but instead, he threw all over the field and Mahomes still only had five incompletions. 

Since then, the Steelers have played the Chiefs and Mahomes three times, and Kansas City has dominated them. The Steelers will get a shot at redemption on Christmas Day 2024 when the two teams face off again. 

Are you surprised that Golden didn't believe in Mahomes? Or that he picked him off so much? Why can't the Steelers beat the Chiefs? What's your prediction for this year's game? Click to comment below. 

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