Troy Aikman isn’t the first person to discover that some tweets age very poorly.
But few keep getting reminded of their old X/Twitter miscues on a regular basis like Aikman.
The ESPN Monday Night Football analyst saw an old tweet of his from 2019 resurface once again Sunday night after the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.
Five years ago, The Athletic Kansas City Twitter account noted, “ICYMI: Patrick Mahomes has thrown 36% of Troy Aikman’s career touchdowns, in about 8% of the games.”
Aikman responded, “ICYMI: Talk to me when he has 33 percent of my Super Bowl titles.”
iCYMI: Talk to me when when he has 33% of my Super Bowl Titles https://t.co/Ba8kjPRnDs
— Troy Aikman (@TroyAikman) September 24, 2019
Some fans resurrected that old tweet after Mahomes won his first Super Bowl title in 2020, and it came to light again last year after the Chiefs QB won his second championship.
After Sunday night’s win, Mahomes now has three Super Bowl titles. Even the mathematically challenged can quickly figure that’s 100% of the total Aikman won in his Hall of Fame career with the Dallas Cowboys.
Just like that, Aikman’s old tweet popped up again Sunday on X, with plenty of snide remarks.
Narrator: Patrick Mahomes would go on to earn 100% of Troy Aikman’s Super Bowl Titles before turning 29 years old. https://t.co/ZWWjfSYQaC
— KC Sports Network (@KCSportsNetwork) February 12, 2024
Patrick Mahomes has thrown 132% of Troy Aikman’s passing touchdowns and won 100% of his Super Bowls in about 58% of his career games. https://t.co/nDvt975Iya
— Shehan Jeyarajah (@ShehanJeyarajah) February 12, 2024
Was Troy wrong to say what he said, when he said it. I love that Mahomes is having all this success
— Guha Prabakaran (@gprabaka) February 12, 2024
QB legacies are weird things. Troy Aikman’s career stats are worse than Andy Dalton’s, pretty much across the board. But Troy played on a great team surrounded by HOFs. https://t.co/tMO75kNK0e
— Sam Pineda (@SamuelSPineda) February 12, 2024
Aikman did address the Chiefs’ third Super Bowl trophy in five years with a nice tweet Monday afternoon.
“Congratulations to the Hunt family, Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and the entire Kansas City Chiefs organization. What an amazing run they are on!” Aikman posted.
https://twitter.com/TroyAikman/status/1757090632336843126
Predictably, some trolls even jumped on that tweet to point out the obvious (“Mahomes reached a 100 percent. Any comment?”)
In defense of Aikman, he made a valid point when he posted that tweet in 2019. Mahomes had yet to win a Super Bowl, and comparing quarterback statistics from today to Aikman’s era is like comparing apples and oranges. For example, in 1993, when Aikman led the NFL in completion percentage (69.1), he ranked 10th in the league with 3,100 passing yards. That figure would have ranked near the bottom of the league in 2023.
Aikman’s 2019 tweet will live on, and the way the Chiefs’ dynasty is progessing, this won’t be the last time it resurfaces.
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.