Kansas City Chiefs: Arguments against Patrick Mahomes for MVP

No. 1 seed

Part of who wins this year’s MVP could end up being which one of these guys’ teams is able to land in the No. 1 spot in their respective conferences. As of now, both teams are squarely in the No. 2 seed (though the Chiefs moved closer to the No. 1 seed after Pittsburgh lost on Monday).

All it’ll take for the Packers to leapfrog the Saints for that No. 1 spot is a New Orleans’ loss, as the Packers hold the tiebreaker over them. The Chiefs have to keep winning and hope the Steelers have one more loss in them because simply holding the same record as Pittsburgh isn’t enough (the Steelers have a better conference record).

The playoffs aren’t taken into consideration when it comes to who wins the MVP (it’s a regular-season award), but both of these teams finished as the No. 2 seeds last year and getting the top seed in a year where only the No. 1 seed gets a bye could be the difference between MVP and runner-up.

It wouldn’t be crazy if either (or both) of these teams finished as the No. 1 seed in their respective conferences, but if the Packers do it and the Chiefs don’t, maybe that’s another check in Rodgers’ column.

This article might tick some people off, but when looking at Mahomes’ and Rodgers’ numbers, the race isn’t over by any means. Here are their stats after Week 13:

• Mahomes – 3,815 yards, 31 TD, 2 INT (68.3% completion)
• Rodgers – 3,395 yards, 36 TD, 4 INT (68.9% completion)

That’s honestly about as close as you can get. Mahomes has thrown for more yards and fewer interceptions, but Rodgers has five more touchdown passes and narrowly has the better competition percentage. Also, some might say he’s doing it with lesser talent surrounding him.

At this point, I still think the MVP title is Mahomes’ race to lose. If he has a really bad stretch in these final four games or Rodgers really revs it up and throws for 400+ yards and four touchdowns in every game and gets the No. 1 seed because of his heroics, then maybe the vote skews to the Packers quarterback.

Something worth mentioning is how pointless it is to speculate about the MVP early in the season because Mahomes and Rodgers weren’t in that conversation. Everyone was on board the Russell Wilson and Josh Allen train, then Rodgers started to get respect in the discussion, and Mahomes threw his hat into the ring midway through the season. This is why we wait at least until the halfway point to crown an MVP because so much can change from Week 1 to Week 17.

What do you all think? Do you think Rodgers has a legitimate shot in the MVP race?