Patrick Mahomes saw playing time on Saturday when the Kansas City Chiefs took on the Chicago Bears in the team's first preseason game. With playing quarterback, often comes getting hit, but simulating a real game experience is something Mahomes was looking forward to.
Being the first game Mahomes has played since the Chiefs lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship in January, it was his first opportunity to get hit by an opposing defense.
Before the game, Mahomes said he was excited to get hit, but he only requested to be hit one time.
"Yeah, I like to get in there and I like to get hit like one time," he said. "Once you get hit one time you kind of see what it is to get hit again as a quarterback. I feel like after that you're good to go."
Mahomes got his wish, and then some, when he was hit by Chicago's defensive lineman Trevis Gipson.
Take a look at the play:
#Chiefs OL allowed two hits on Mahomes as he threw on Saturday, out of 7 attempts. The bigger of the two one came on the Kelce catch
— Ron Kopp Jr. (@Ron_Kopp) August 15, 2022
Looks like Wylie just loses leverage inside right away, and can't recover. Hoping for some cleaner preszn pass pro when Mahomes' in moving forward pic.twitter.com/1QTTCwUCe7
After the game, Mahomes discussed the tackle to his stomach, noting that it was a hard hit.
"I got hit pretty hard. I wanted that first hit and I got hit hard. He caught me right in the stomach, right between the rib pads, so it was a nice first one to take and it'll make me better for sure," Mahomes said to reporters.
Mahomes says he is glad that he got the in-game experience and is looking at the bright side, that every hit will make him a better player.
When asked if he should not have wished to get hit after being hit so hard, Mahomes said, "No, it was a good drive and I'm glad that we got it out of the way and got that touchdown."
He added, "I was hoping I was gonna kind of get hit and just fell, just off to the side. Not the direct helmet to the stomach and then him land on me."
Mahomes played one drive in the 19-14 loss to the Bears. but his one drive resulted in a touchdown.