By: Nick Swafford

He has done it. Patrick Mahomes has taken the MVP title of the 2018-2019 football season. In my full and honest opinion, he completely deserves it. Back toward the beginning of the 2018 season, I wrote an article giving the possible prospects of Mahomes as he continued his career, which you can find here https://heritageherald.com/2018/10/23/mahomes-magic/.

At that time, he had only played about 7 games in the season, with a 6-1 record that was already making headlines even before the game of the year with the face off between the Chiefs and the Rams. No one could have predicted what a shootout that game would be, becoming the highest-scoring Monday night football game in NFL history. That game also became the third highest-scoring game in the entire history of the NFL, only beaten by a Cincinnati Bengals vs. Cleveland Browns game in 2004, which scored 106 points, and the highest-scoring football game in history between the New York Giants and Washington Redskins in 1966 that racked up a grand total of 113 points.

A true testament to Patrick Mahomes’ abilities is how in just his first year as a starting quarterback, he is being compared to the greats like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Peyton Manning. But that isn’t the only highlight out of Mahomes’ season. His many achievements since my last article prove he is the rightful winner of the MVP award.

In Week 14, Mahomes made his amazing no-look pass against the Baltimore Ravens in a game that the Chiefs won 27-24. Mahomes even replicated that pass in an interview, hitting his target perfectly, showing he has full control over his passes. He also recreated the now infamous no-look pass during the NFL’s-100 year commercial that aired during the Super Bowl as he passed the ball to Odell Beckham Jr. who, in turn, recreated his famous catch. Two of the biggest moments from the recent seasons. At least something good came out of that Super Bowl.

Mahomes has other accomplishments, such as the left-handed pass to Tyreek Hill that fueled his victory against the Broncos in Week 4, but none other action of his comes close to the accumulation of all his magnificent plays. His record of 5,000 passing yards and 50 touchdowns. He was put with the great Peyton Manning as the second player ever to achieve such an accomplishment. The vastness of 5,000 yards is absolutely mind-boggling; it’s give or take about the length of 500 football fields. An insane feat by itself, but paired with 50 touchdowns, it becomes so much more. Getting those touchdowns and those yards isn’t just an effort by Mahomes, it was an effort by the entire Chiefs team. With weapons like Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, and—although he was fired halfway through the season due to his actions off the field—Kareem Hunt, Mahomes made his record-shattering first year starting one to remember.

However, not only did Mahomes get MVP, he also won Offensive Player of the Year, beating out big players for the titles. He was chosen over star players of this years season like Aaron Donald, Drew Brees, Todd Gurley, and Tom Brady, which gives a true sense of how well Patrick Mahomes has played this season. Although he did lose against Tom Brady and the Super Bowl 53 champions, the Patriots, during the divisional round of the playoffs, he still managed to nab the MVP title.

I’m interested to see if this trend will continue with Mahomes and the entire Chiefs team as a whole for the seasons to come. Mahomes has so much promise, and I want to continue watching him as he gains more and more football experience and becomes even better than he was this season. Maybe sometime in the future he’ll even get himself a Super Bowl ring. One can only hope, but there’s always the possibility of a random fall off which I hope doesn’t happen. Either way, next season of football will be one to watch, and if Mahomes makes it next year maybe we would get an actually good Super Bowl.