Media Ignorance to Past Era's and Montana

I keep asking myself, where are Mahomes comparisons to Manning and Montana? Why is Brady the comparison QB? Why do we ignore rule changes? 

Truthfully, I couldn't tell you why the past eras have been forgotten about, because when growing up it was all about comparing eras. The shift from the majority of people being die-hard fans of teams to being die-hard fans of players, not caring about the whole team but only how that one player is performing has been detrimental. Football is the closest thing to physical chess, every player, every down, every game, is a methodical plan on how to beat that upcoming opponent. The pawns are the O-line, the very first line of defense, protecting the king, aka the QB. The rooks are the wideouts, flashy, and usually follow a strict route, avoiding any defenders in the way. The bishops are the slot receivers, as a Pats fan, I would always visualize Edelman and Amendola, as 2 bishops moving through the middle of the board because that's usually what they would do on the field, line up close to the protection, and have a double-crossing route that confuses the defense. Finally, we have the king, the most important chess piece, but arguably the least work to do. The king's role is to lead, keep his pawns in line, and ensure his bishops are opening up the field, leaning very heavily on his queen in a bad situation, when nothing else is working. This is why stats in the previous era compared to this era are either deflated or inflated. A team may have a great statistical QB, but if that man doesn't understand what his role as a QB is, then that team will never succeed. A king mentality creates a culture that the army wants to fight for, a coward mentality creates a culture based on lies, and it may work for a little, but once the pawns realize the lies, your protection dies. Qbs today are more focused on flashy plays, and physical ability than the mentality it takes to run a team, is this a bad thing? 

No, but is it leading to disingenuous narratives and comparisons? 

Very much so. It's the reason why Mahomes is being compared to Brady instead of Manning or Montana. Brady's biggest strength when it came to playing football was his mind. The way he could dissect a defense, look off a safety so his receiver doesn't die, and the way he held himself accountable and everybody else to that same accountability standard. Brady never considered himself the best in the league, Brady never lost that chip on his shoulder for being drafted 199th, Brady never thought he was better than any of his teammates, but that his team was better than any other team. Manning had probably the greatest vision and accuracy of all time, and his physical abilities were better than Brady’s majority of their careers, however, he didn’t win as much because he was too focused on how well he was playing, forgetting about his pawns, bishops, and queen. Manning threw for 55 TDS, and 5400 yards, a very exciting offense, and dominated up until a game where they needed mentality over stats. That game was the Superbowl, the biggest game all year, and how did it end?

43-8, Seattle's defense exposed their weak mentality, after that first play safety, the Broncos were finished. Just 2 years later, Manning easily had his worst season ever, but he was more focused on the mentality of the team instead of himself, they then went on to destroy the 18-1 Panthers who had MVP Cam Newton. Therefore, Cam's mentality was scared, and selfish in that game, and right when he didn't jump for that lose ball, is when you knew, they lost that game. However, Mahomes also doesn’t have the mentality to create from behind, or to focus more on the team, this year he has been more about it, which is why the Chiefs are having their best season yet without putting up 31 points a single time. My personal belief, is that Mahomes is easily top 4 all time, but due to the NFL/medias bias, and the constant rule changes, Mahomes has benefitted from not needing that team-first mentality, and still being able to win. After all, he's physically gifted and benefits from having his prime in an era of lenient rules, which in its own right is a great thing because he has learned to abuse the system for his team's benefit. With all that being said, Mahomes is easily a top 4 QB right now and may go down as top 2, but if you are not willing to compare him to every top 5 QB, taking into account how a QB's mind and vision were their biggest strengths back in the day compared to now where physical talent and lenient rules are the QBs biggest resource, you are being disingenuous and narratively talking. It is not an opinion that the defense has needed to relax on hitting, it's a fact. It's not an opinion that rules are changing and becoming more lenient for the offense, it's a fact. It’s not an opinion that Montana, Brady, and Manning played in the league where receivers had to catch hospital balls and decide if the yards were with an injury, it’s a fact. The game has changed to the point where the media can't compare Mahomes to Montana or Manning because their stats in a harder era are too close, but compare him to Brady because Brady’s biggest strength was his mentality, not his ability, and then when Brady started putting up insane numbers at 40 years old, in this new school era of Football, is when media started to compare Mahomes to him, a direct comparison will always create more controversy than a past comparison, and that's what the media craves, controversy.