Patrick Mahomes reflects on what MVP, Lombardi mean to him at this stage in his career

The last time Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes won the Super Bowl and the NFL MVP, his life was completely different. He was the hot young gunslinger who had just broken on the scene. It was surreal to watch.

Here was this early 20-something out on the field, hanging loose, not realizing that success is not supposed to come this easy. Mahomes would be the first to admit this.

“I think winning the MVP or winning the Super Bowl again — I’ll have a greater appreciation for it because I’ve been through the trials and the struggles of losing,” he explained on Monday. “My first year starting, it was fun. I didn’t know what was happening. I was just throwing the ball around, and you win the MVP, and I’m like, ‘Oh, this is what we do every year — we win MVPs, and we get to AFC Championships and win Super Bowls.”

There isn’t a single quarterback in the AFC playoffs who has more postseason experience than Patrick Mahomes. At age 27, he is the elder statesman of the AFC quarterback elite. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid thinks this gives Mahomes an edge over the competition.

“I mean, experience helps,” said Reid. “It is single elimination. You know everybody’s got to be sharp. It’s not just Patrick. We’ve all got to do our job and do it well, knowing what the result is. But it’s sure it doesn’t hurt Pat to have the experience that he has.”

A year and a month after his first Super Bowl win, his life was already dramatically different. He was now engaged, and his family had just given birth to its first child. But on the field, things weren’t quite as easy as they had started.

The Chiefs lost Super Bowl LV to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a game that will primarily be remembered as the game Mahomes ran for nearly 500 yards, trying to avoid pass rushers.

The 2020 NFL MVP Award went to Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. And then, last season, the Chiefs lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship game. Rodgers won the MVP award again.

Since then, Mahomes has gotten married, and his family has welcomed a second child into the world. The quarterback’s life is different from the last time he won the MVP or the Lombardi.

He is different.

“Now that I’ve been in the struggle — not winning the MVP, losing the AFC Championship game, losing the Super Bowl, it built a greater appreciation for the grind and how you have to come every single day to work, not knowing that you’re going to be at the top at the end of the season.”

When Mahomes was asked about the probability of him winning a second NFL MVP award, he said that it was an honor that speaks to the talent around him.

“The MVP award is a special award that if you get it, I mean you’ll cherish it for the rest of your life,” he said. “it’s something I think that you look back at more at the end of the season or at the end of your career, and you think about those great times that you had.

“It’s a trophy that symbolizes the team that was around you. And so you think about those memories you had with those guys, how you went to battle with them and were able to win a lot of football games.”

But Mahomes also made it clear which trophy he’s focusing on now, and it’s not the MVP.

“I mean, we’re focused on the Super Bowl right now and trying to get there and win it. But obviously, it’ll still be a big moment in my life that I’ll be able to have forever remembered.”