The Mahomes for MVP Game

Coming into Sunday Night Football, there was a logjam of 5 and 6 win teams. Buffalo lost so the 1-seed is back in play, but there are 9 teams with 5 wins. Meaning that if the Chiefs lost, they could suddenly be thinking about just making the playoffs. 

In short, this was a big one.

After taking a 9-0 lead against a team with no passer, things seemed pretty great. Until King Henry made it 14-9 in the blink of an eye and the Chiefs started to stall. 

The Titans were doubling Kelce and getting pressure on Pat. Receivers are dropping passes. Butker is missing kicks. Mahomes is getting sacked. And then there's the inaccurate pass that Kelce tried to reach for it and it became a tip drill—interception. 

There's 10 minutes left and the Chiefs are down 8. They take over on their own 7. 

They pick up a few first downs but then take a sack on 2nd and 10. It's 3rd and 17. 

Wait. Hold everything. Where have I seen this before?

Oh yeah: 

Yesterday it was two less points but two more yards to go. Roughly the same spot on the field. And the time. It was 7:13 in both games. 

(Yesterday it was a running clock. SNF was fading back from graphics so at 7:13 the shot wasn't in focus yet, but it was 7:13 in both games.)

This is the point yesterday and in Super Bowl LIV that Mahomes put the team on his back and said we're not losing this game.

He made the biggest plays of regulation with his feet. And then in Overtime on 3rd and inches does this:

Here's your updated standings:

Bills and Chiefs are only teams with 2 losses in the AFC. Bills have tiebreakers over Chiefs, Chiefs have tiebreaker over Titans. 

Allen and Hurts still have strong MVP cases and there's more than half the season left to decide things, but I'll tell you this with 100% confidence: there is no other player in the league I'd rather have than Mahomes.

Tuesday Update: New Vegas odds for MVP have Mahomes, then Hurts, then Allen as a top 3. Tua is 4th but a tier below. Tyreek is 10th, the highest non-QB.