KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Even as Patrick Mahomes piled up spectacular statistics during the season, Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid resisted the urge to call his quarterback the NFL’s most valuable player.
On Sunday, after the Chiefs finished their regular season by clinching the AFC West championship with a lopsided win over the Oakland Raiders, Reid couldn’t help himself any longer.
“He’s been the MVP," said Reid, who was once Brett Favre’s quarterbacks coach for several seasons with the Green Bay Packers. “He’s done good. He is a heck of a player. I was fortunate to be around a three-time MVP and a couple of guys who were right on the edge of being the MVP and this guy is in that category. He is so deserving. In a world of great players, for him to do the things he’s done is phenomenal and he will continue to do that. He still has room to grow.
“That’s the exciting part and something for Kansas City to be very excited about. His work ethic and everything else is MVP-caliber level. He comes to work with a purpose, makes everyone feel a part of it, makes everyone around him better and has done that for our organization, for all of us, his fans and coaches and owner, too. He’s been very important.”
Mahomes finished the season with 50 touchdown passes and 5,097 yards, making him only the second quarterback to go over 50 TDs and 5,000 yards in a season.
The first was Denver’s Peyton Manning in 2013, and he was the NFL’s MVP that year.
The Chiefs traded last season’s top-rated passer, Alex Smith, last offseason to make room in their lineup for Mahomes, so they thought their young quarterback was ready to be a productive player.
But few quarterbacks have MVP-type seasons in their first season as a starter.
“I am not much of a crystal-ball guy," Reid said when asked if he expected so much from Mahomes so early. “I know he had a good foundation that was set. Alex Smith was a big part of that and helping him understand what this league is all about.
“But who knows? In this game you don’t know week to week. You go out and do your best. You work hard and you keep that process going every day, every week that you have an opportunity to do so and he did that. Does it surprise me? Nothing he does really surprises me. I saw that the first year. You don’t know, but heck, I still think he can keep growing. We haven’t seen the end of it.”
Mahomes was also asked after Sunday’s win whether he deserved to be MVP.
“That’s a hard question," Mahomes said. “There (are) a lot of guys that have played this year that I feel like deserve the MVP. It’s not up to me. ... Hopefully I’m still playing whenever it happens.”
His teammates, not surprisingly, weren’t as reluctant to weigh in on the topic. Linebacker Justin Houston was one of them.
“He means a lot," linebacker Justin Houston said. “His numbers speak for themselves. ... Any quarterback that can come into the game and put up that many touchdowns, it gives the defense some breathing room and put us in a position to do what we like to do as defensive linemen and outside linebackers. We like to rush the passer. Anytime you are ahead going into the fourth quarter, you can pin your ears back and go.”
In the second half of Sunday’s game, with the Chiefs holding a big lead, fans at Arrowhead Stadium chanted “MVP." Houston, who played with quarterbacks like Matt Cassel, Tyler Palko and Kyle Orton since joining the Chiefs in 2011, had never heard such a thing in his home stadium.
“First time," he said. “I am pretty sure it won’t be the last time with that guy.”