Super Bowl: Patrick Mahomes' drive to be great never stops

GLENDALE, Ariz.— Patrick Mahomes was given the keys to Kansas City’s offense five years ago and all he’s done is help drive his team to an NFL-best 64 regular-season wins, a league-record five consecutive AFC title games at home, a Super Bowl victory and two more appearances in the biggest game of the year.

All of that has earned Mahomes two MVP Awards and one Super Bowl MVP trophy and he’s been the face of the NFL the past several seasons.

Mahomes has enjoyed quite a career and he’s only 27 years old. He’s not close to being satisfied and his drive to succeed has never been stronger.

“I don’t ever say I’m chasing a player,” Mahomes said during the lead-up to Super Bowl Sunday. “I’m chasing that I don’t want to have any regrets when I step off the football field.

“I understand how lucky I am to be in this organization. I understand how lucky I am to play with guys who are going to be in the Hall of Fame. At the end of my career, I don’t want to look back and say, ‘Man I didn’t give it everything I have to win Super Bowls because of the great people I have around me.’ I just want to make sure I gave everything I have on the football field.”

No one could ever say Mahomes hasn’t. He suffered a high right ankle sprain in this year’s Divisional Round against Jacksonville and finished the game. Mahomes was hobbling in the second half of the AFC Championship Game, but played remarkably well in leading Kansas City to a win over Cincinnati. His late scramble to get a first down (plus a 15-yard penalty for a late hit) set up the game-winning field goal. 

Mahomes had two weeks to rest it before facing the Eagles Sunday in Super Bowl LVII inside State Farm Stadium. High ankle sprains generally take at least four weeks to heal. Apparently, It would have to take something more serious to keep Mahomes from playing.

This is just one of the reasons his teammates love Mahomes. He puts the team before himself and his competitive fire is never doused.

Mahomes is gifted as a thrower. He can release the football from all different arm angles, on the move with a defensive lineman chasing him or standing in the pocket. But Mahomes hasn’t just relied on that.

The way Mahomes studies and works to make sure he’s at his best and he doesn’t let his team down have helped him become the best player in the league.

“He's always playing a step ahead," tight end Travis Kelce said. "He's always playing chess out there in terms of, he's got three or four moves already in his pocket depending on what the defense does. I love playing with him. He's non-stop, always trying to find ways to make himself better. That’s what’s going to make him the greatest to ever go down.”

That's the debate that will never go away.

Most consider Tom Brady the greatest or Joe Montana. Ultimately, you’re measured by Super Bowl victories. Brady has seven, Montana four. Mahomes may not be chasing players, but he is chasing trophies and rings.

“The biggest thing is the wins,” Kelce said. “The wins in the regular season and the wins in the playoffs. That’s what you’re measured on. Pat’s got a head start on a lot of that. Hopefully we keep that rolling.

“I’m sure that throughout Pat’s career, you’ll be hearing the 'greatest ever to play the game' tossed around a lot and I saw it the beginning stages and it’s cool to see it all manifest.”

As a rookie in 2017, Mahomes sat and watched Alex Smith. He made his first NFL start in the regular-season finale that year — a win, of course — and took over the starting job for good to start the 2018 season. He threw 50 touchdown passes, joining Brady and Peyton Manning as the only two quarterbacks to hit that number. That was Mahomes’ first MVP year.

Mahomes won his second this season after throwing for 41 touchdowns and a career-high 5,250 yards, which also set the NFL single-season mark. He led the league in both categories in his first season playing without Tyreek Hill, who was dealt to the Dolphins in the spring.

To Kelce, doing that with so many new faces in the receiver room just spoke to how driven Mahomes is to be great. 

“You saw that more so this year than in any other year we've played knowing that the pieces were a little different in terms of the weapons he has,” Kelce said. “The scrutiny, everybody was kind of looking to see how he was going to take his game to the next level — and sure enough.”

Mahomes did and became the eighth quarterback to win multiple MVPs.

“He’s deserving,” coach Andy Reid said. “He wants to be the best. He strives for that every day.”

Mahomes said it was a great honor winning the annual highest individual honor, but he gave plenty of credit to his coach and teammates.

“You have to be on a great team,” Mahomes said. “As much as you take pride in winning that award for yourself, teams take pride in winning that award because it's a team award, really.”

Kelce said it’s something that Mahomes will look back on after his career and truly appreciate, but it’s not what drives him every day.

"He walks into that building trying to find the best way to beat the opponent that we have that week,” Kelce said. “And he just goes out there and he plays the style of football that he does. He has fun doing it with the guys that he has around him, and we rally around that, that excitement, that want and that desire to win with the guys next to us.”

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.