ArrowChop: Did Mahomes’ sloppy game kill his MVP run?

After a rather atrocious throwing day for Patrick Mahomes against a tough as nails Dolphins’ squad, has the MVP slipped through his grasp and effectively killed his run?

Hello again everyone and welcome to another week of the ArrowChop! This is the column where we look at the positives/negatives of a certain Chiefs/NFL issue and look at both sides of the aisle. Then you, the readers, will come to your conclusions after I lay out the case. So sit back, relax, and enjoy as we breakdown this week’s hot topic.

Sunday’s game against the Dolphins was a sight to behold; they have now officially won the AFC West for the 5th year in a row, the defense played exceptionally(which is a rarity), and Mecole Hardman returned a put for a touchdown. The offense, on the other hand, was another story. While they were able to put up points and some players had outstanding games (like Kelce and Hill), Mahomes’ had one of the worst games of his career, throwing for three interceptions and only two touchdowns.

With this in mind, it seems that the MVP may be slipping from Mahomes’ hands, with Rodgers, possibly, taking the lead. Has this performace killed his MVP run, or will he still have a shot to pull it away in the end.

Mahomes has killed his MVP chances

This goes on the rails of consistency. While Mahomes has been a consistent monster on the football field, Aaron Rodgers, his only true competitor for MVP, has started to beat this by a motherload. In Rodgers’ last five games, he has thrown for three or more touchdowns in four of them; his only instance of not doing this was against the Jaguars, out of all teams. He is also leading the league in passing touchdowns, passer rating, QBR, and quarterback rating. This means he’s beating Mahomes in all these stats and he’s even beating him in completion percentage.

Rodgers is achieving all this with fewer weapons than Mahomes. Adams is the only true receiving weapon on the Packers roster, and he’s making other receivers like Robert Tonyan and Marquez Valdes-Scantling 10x better than they should. It’s outstanding he’s putting all these stats together this season with the little help he has gotten.

With all that said, let’s go off of Rodgers for a second and talk about this week and how it could have lessened Mahomes’ chances for MVP. Every player has a bad game; I believe every fan understands that, no matter who you are a fan of or not. However, if a player throws three interceptions, two that were specifically his fault (one he tried to force it in and another that was overthrown), it should cost them no matter what. Rodgers now has less interceptions then Mahomes, so an overtake in the MVP standings isn’t surprising.

This leads experts and specifically fans to believe Mahomes doesn’t deserve the award this season. However, there’s a good percentage of fans that think otherwise:

Mahomes hasn’t killed his MVP chances

One reason for this would be the key games they’ve won. To keep it short, the MVP is for players that win their teams’ games, and Mahomes has been able to attain this more than Rodgers. Mahomes has been the main reason the Chiefs have been able to win close games that they would’ve lost with anyone else; examples include the Ravens, the recent Raiders, and the Bills games they’ve won. There isn’t a player who can make the types of off-shoulder throws, side-armed throws, and clutch plays he has been able to do. That has given the Chiefs the advantage over everyone else.

I’ve seen a lot of talk about the Chiefs’ schedule and how it’s been “easy” or “a cupcake schedule” when it’s entirely not true. The Chiefs faced a fully-loaded Ravens squad, a lethal Bills squad that defeated the Steelers, a Dolphins team that is set on making the playoffs, and a Bucs squad with one of the deadliest defenses in the league; they won all those games. They still have to face the Saints next week, while they lost against the Eagles, they’re still one of the best teams in the NFC.

The only playoff team Rodgers and the Packers have beaten is the Saints; they were annihilated by the Bucs, and they’re 1-1 against the Vikings this season. To their credit, they still have to play Tennesse, yet I don’t think that changes much to this point. If Mahomes beats the Saints, then it’s possibly all set from there.

Another instance that is drawn upon this side is the comparisons of their “worst games” of the season, so let’s break down Mahomes’ and Rodgers’ and do just that! For context, I’m using the Packers vs Bucs and the recent Chiefs vs Dolphins games. In Rodgers’ game, he threw for under 200 yards while Mahomes threw nearly 400 yards (393 to be exact), Rodgers threw for zero touchdowns while Mahomes threw for two (one to Kelce and one to Hill), and he had less than a 50% completion percentage against the Bucs while Mahomes had well over 50% (70.59%). Yes, Mahomes threw for more interceptions, but at least he was able to win his game, unlike Rodgers.

If you think it’s only because they played the Bucs, don’t forget that Mahomes lit up the Bucs a few weeks ago in a 27-24 win. He threw for 462 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions while also completing 75.5% of his passes. In that sense, there are still good reasons why Mahomes still should be #1.

Do you think Mahomes has killed his chances, or do you believe he’s still ahead of the pack? Leave a comment down below to join the discussion. Thanks for reading, and have an awesome day.