Patrick Mahomes placing third for MVP will motivate him even more

Patrick Mahomes didn’t win his second MVP, instead placing third. You better believe this will motivate him even more. 

The 2020 regular season awards were handed out on Saturday night and Patrick Mahomes didn’t come home with MVP. Kansas City Chiefs fans weren’t surprised by this, as Mahomes had seemingly fallen out of the race in the final month of the season.

Aaron Rodgers of the Packers won MVP instead — his third — and this wasn’t shocking. Rodgers played out of his mind in 2020 and the drafting of Jordan Love clearly pushed him to show he still had plenty left in the tank.

No one is angry about Rodgers winning MVP, but the more shocking result is that Bills quarterback Josh Allen finished ahead of Mahomes in the MVP race. Allen received four votes as the league’s Most Valuable Player while Mahomes received just two. Ooh boy.

Patrick Mahomes won’t forget this snub.

Again, Mahomes probably isn’t mad about losing to Rodgers. We all expected Rodgers to win MVP after he threw for 4,299 yards, 48 touchdowns, and five interceptions while rushing for three touchdowns and did so at the age of 36/37 (he turned 37 in early December).

In comparison, Mahomes threw for 4,740 yards, 38 touchdowns, and six interceptions while adding 308 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. Allen threw for 4,544, 37 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions while rushing for 421 yards and eight touchdowns.

Allen was great in 2020 and that’s not debatable. He took the Bills to the AFC Championship Game for the first time since the mid-1990s and that’s very impressive, but to think that he had a better season than Mahomes — who beat him twice — is laughable.

Mahomes has made it a point to call out people who snub him with the most notable instance coming in a regular-season game against the Bears in 2019. Mahomes held up eight fingers one at a time while he ran into the end zone, with each finger signifying each player taken between Mitchell Trubksky (who Chicago took instead of him) and Mahomes in the 2017 draft. Could we see him do something similar in Super Bowl LV?

The best-case scenario is that Mahomes uses this as ammo to continue to better his career. Winning his second Super Bowl in just four years in the league (third as a starter) would be the best possible way to show that he’s the better overall player than both Rodgers and Allen right now.