The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback talked a lot of football with hosts Peyton and Eli Manning as they watched a simulcast of the “Monday Night Football” game between the Denver Broncos and Buffalo Bills.
He successfully predicted a sequence of plays, including when and how the Broncos would score a touchdown.
He gave a lot of great insight from a seven-year career that has included two league most valuable player awards, three Super Bowl appearances, two Super Bowl wins and two Super Bowl MVPs.
But he might have shared a little too much.
No, check that — he definitely shared too much.
Blame Eli Manning. He brought it up early in the second quarter as the Broncos set up for a second-and-13 from their 44.
“We saw your old teammate, your backup quarterback Chad Henne said you have a few superstitions, and that one of them is wearing the same pair of red underwear on game day for years now,” Manning said. “I love a good superstition, but couldn’t you just do, say like, eating the same pregame meal? Did it have to be the red underwear?”
Mahomes could have just ignored the question or laughed it off. But, nope, it was time for the oversharing to begin.
“Well, you know, first, my wife Brittany got them for me, so I have to … wear them, you know?” Mahomes said. “But at the same time, I threw ’em on that first season, we had a pretty good season that season. I only wear them for game day, though, so I can’t get — they’re not too worn down. They’re not like these nasty [underwear] — I clean ’em.”
OK, well that seems like a good place to stop talking … oh man, no. Mahomes kept on talking about his undies.
“I wash ’em — I wash ’em every once in a while at least. I mean if we’re on a hot streak, I can’t wash them, you know?” Mahomes said. “I’ve just got to keep it rolling. So, you know, as long as we’re winning football games, I’ll keep the superstition going.”
The Chiefs have won at least 10 games every season since Mahomes became starter in 2018. That’s a lot of weeks that undergarment has avoided a date with some warm, sudsy water over the years.
The Chiefs won their most recent game 21-14 over the Miami Dolphins on Nov. 5 in Frankfurt, Germany. So not only was there a stinky pair of briefs flying back overseas following that game, it was also sitting around the Mahomes household during the bye week. The Chiefs had won six straight games earlier this season, so their upset loss to Denver on Oct. 29 might have been a sweet-smelling blessing in disguise for the rest of the Kansas City locker room.
Henne made the revelation about Mahomes during a February appearance on “The Adam Schefter Podcast.”
“Same pair of underwear, which probably not a lot of people know, on game day. He’s been wearing it since I’ve been part of it,” Henne said of the quarterback he backed up for the final four years of his career before retiring this past offseason.
“They’re red. I’m not sure if they’re Hanes or if they’re Lululemon, but it’s one or two of those brands, and ever since he comes in the locker room — boom, it’s right there. I’ll be stretching, and like I said, you just glimpse up, and you’re like, ‘Damn, kid’s wearing them again.’”
Thankfully, Mahomes opted not to answer a follow-up question from Eli Manning: “Is it a thong? A G-string? What is it?”
But just for future reference, Mahomes — they’re called unmentionables for a reason.