Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes enters the “Monday Night Football” matchup against the Raiders with 162 touchdown passes. He needs only four to pass Aikman’s career passing touchdown mark of 165. Aikman would be the sixth Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Mahomes would pass in career passing touchdowns, according to Stathead. Mahomes has thrown for at least four touchdown passes 14 times in his 67 career games.

Why would this be awkward? Well, back in 2019, The Athletic Kansas City shared that Mahomes had already reached 36 percent of Aikman’s passing touchdowns in just 8 percent of the games. Aikman responded that Mahomes should get back to him when he has 33 percent of his Super Bowl titles.

It didn’t take long for Mahomes to reach that mark. By the end of the season, Mahomes had won Super Bowl 54, reaching 33 percent of Aikman’s three Super Bowl titles.

MORE: Why Joe Buck and Troy Aikman left Fox to join ESPN’s ‘Monday Night Football’ booth

Aikman’s 12-year career was highlighted by the three rings he claimed, while his regular-season numbers weren’t always the most impressive. But as Mahomes prepares to potentially pass Aikman in passing touchdowns, The Sporting News is looking at how the career numbers compare between the two future Canton colleagues.

Troy Aikman vs. Patrick Mahomes stats

Mahomes has played in 67 career games. Aikman totaled 165 in his career. Keep those numbers in mind.

Aikman finished his career with a 61.5 completion percentage, 32,942 passing yards, 165 touchdowns and 141 picks. To this point in his career, Mahomes has a 66.1 completion percentage, 20,097 passing yards, 162 touchdowns and 39 interceptions.

The numbers between the two start to get more impressive for Mahomes when looking at Aikman’s single-season totals. Aikman’s personal single-season bests in passing yards and passing touchdowns are 3,445 and 23, both posted in 1992. Mahomes has never finished a full season with fewer than 4,031 passing yards or 26 touchdowns, both of which came in 2019, when he played in a career-low 14 games.

In Mahomes’ first year as a starter, when he won MVP in 2018, he threw 50 touchdowns. He did not have any in his single rookie season appearance in 2017. It took Aikman 52 games to reach 50 career touchdown passes.

Here’s a look at how Mahomes’ first 67 career games compare to Aikman’s start.

It’s fair to say that NFL quarterbacks pass far more in today’s game than they did in the early-mid-1990s — only six quarterbacks attempted more than 600 passes from 1990-94; eight did it last year alone — but Mahomes’ numbers are also more efficient. He averages more than a yard per attempt better than Aikman and has a touchdown rate of 6.5 percent in his career compared to Aikman’s 3.6 percent.

Then there’s also the turnovers. Aikman had thrown picks on 3.5 percent of his passes through his first 67 games; Mahomes has a 1.6 percent interception rate.

MORE: How Patrick Mahomes enlisted Andy Reid to appear in latest State Farm ad

And as it pertains to Super Bowls, Mahomes is off to a comparable start to Aikman. By this point in Aikman’s career, he had one Super Bowl win, though he would go on to win his second for the season in which he played in his 67th game. Mahomes has already played in two and has never ended his season before the AFC Championship.

At just 27 years old, Mahomes still has plenty of time to continue to rack up the incredible numbers. Aikman might just hope that he waits to pass his passing touchdowns mark so someone else can call the moment.