Patrick Mahomes An MVP Certainty? Joins Brady, Manning With 50 TD Passes

Patrick Mahomes has joined an elite club following the final game of the NFL regular season Sunday. The second year starting quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs, completed 50 touchdown passes for the season to become just the third quarterback to do so during the course of the 16 game season.

The 23-year-old is having a season to remember and has been impressive from the get go. The game against the Oakland Raiders, which the Chiefs won 35-3, was the 11^th game that Mahomes has thrown multiple touchdown passes with the most coming during their 54-51 loss, to the Los Angeles Rams when he threw six throws that ended up in the end zone.

Mahomes’ 50^th touchdown pass came with just over eight minutes remaining in the third quarter when he found DeMarcus Robinson with an 89-yard throw that saw the Chiefs move 28-3 into the lead.

The touchdown pass tied the Chiefs quarterback for second most in a season at 50 with New England Patriots legend and arguably one of the greatest ever to play the game Tom Brady. He reached the milestone in 2007 when the Patriots went 18-0 for the season before losing to New York Giants in the Super Bowl XLII.

Peyton Manning holds the record for most touchdown passes in a regular season with 55, which was achieved in 2013 – Brady and Manning won the MVP awards during their record setting campaigns. Mahomes also completed 5000 passing yards for the season, which not too many previous quarterbacks have achieved in their first season as a starter.

The Chiefs signal caller has been one of the favorites alongside New Orleans Saints’ Drew Brees to win the regular season MVP award, but his 50 touchdown pass season is likely to see him beat the veteran quarterback, who has also had an incredible season.

The Chiefs, meanwhile, clinched the American Football Conference (AFC) West division title with their win over the Raiders on Sunday. They were also confirmed as the number one seeds from the AFC which will give them home-field advantage going into the playoffs.

Andy Reid is well aware of his team’s history in the playoffs – they are one of the most underperforming franchises when it comes to the post season, but after the campaign they have had anything less than a Super Bowl attempt is likely to be a disappointment.

The players are not allowing past disappointments to dampen the momentum they have built this season – they are looking to the future and hoping to use what they learnt from past disappointments and have a good run in the post-season.

“That’s old news,” linebacker Justin Houston said, as quoted on The Kansas City Star. “You don’t focus on the past. Don’t let the past, poison your future.”

“We’ve been in this situation before, and we’ve learned from it,” Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce added.