Patrick Mahomes is well on his way to a second straight MVP award

Patrick Mahomes is already looking like the frontrunner for MVP which could put him in rare historical company with back-to-back wins.

Given how much ink has already been spilled about Patrick Mahomes, it’s a miracle that anything else can be written.

The Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterback won the National Football League’s Most Valuable Player award in his first full season as a starter—in fact, in a year where he made career starts two through 19. He put up the fabled numbers often quoted together as a couplet—50 and 5,000—which represent the total touchdowns and passing yards from what was a magical season for both Mahomes and the rest of the Kansas City Chiefs.

In that single season as a starter, Mahomes was compared to every great quarterback who ever played the game. Every aspect of his game was celebrated, from his off-the-field demeanor to his obvious physical gifts, from his leadership in the locker room to his instinctual creativity. When a 23-year-old is described as a hybrid of Favre, Manning, Marino, Rodgers, and Tittle, you realize there’s probably nothing else to write. The comparisons have been made. The achievements have been celebrated.

Then another season arrives.

Given Mahomes early success, NFL history dictates that Mahomes had to get worse. Here’s the thing: even the aforementioned players couldn’t keep up that level of success. Gravity, we’re told, is a constant, which means Mahomes had to come back down.

Two games in, Mahomes is looking better than he did the previous year.

On Sunday afternoon, Patrick Mahomes walked into Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and casually put the Raiders away in an unparalleled second quarter that featured four touchdown passes—none of them under 27 yards. He did so on a problematic ankle that looked like an issue from the outset, from having twisted it the previous week against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He also lacked his top playmaker in Tyreek Hill and his left tackle Eric Fisher due to injuries.

Despite the physical challenges and even an early 10-0 lead for the Oakland Raiders, Mahomes put up 4 quick touchdowns in less than 15 minutes to go from getting back in the game to putting it out of reach. Just. Like. That.

In the end, Mahomes finished with 30 completions on 44 attempts (68 percent) for 443 passing yards and 4 touchdowns with 0 interceptions. That was before Andy Reid, his head coach, went into game manager mode for most of the second half. That also doesn’t include a long Mecole Hardman touchdown called back due to penalty.

Last week, Mahomes did much of the same against one of the NFL’s most feared defenses in Jacksonville. There he completed 25 of 33 passes (76 percent) for 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. That gives him 7 touchdowns on the year with no turnovers in two road games that have the Chiefs already sitting alone atop the AFC West.

Here’s the rub: none of this was supposed to happen—or at least not at this rate. “Regression” was the word often thrown around when it came to Mahomes. No one ever passes for 50 touchdowns, so that means absolutely no one can do it twice in a row. The same can be said for the 5,000 passing yards. The belief that was Mahomes would come back to earth in some way. Everyone always has, so we assume everyone always will.

But Mahomes was an anomaly in the first place, and it’s time we start expecting the unexpected, even with Mahomes. Or, as we should say, especially with Mahomes.

Defenses were supposed to be better with a year’s worth of tape on Mahomes, but what nationally known talking heads forgot to admit was that Mahomes had a full year under his belt as well. He wasn’t a guy making his second or third or fifth or even 15th start. He’d been through the fire. He had another full offseason in the playbook. He had another winter, spring and summer to work with team trainers. Experience goes both ways and Mahomes had it, too.

This year, Mahomes looks more decisive and less cavalier. He knows the Super Bowl is the goal, but he also realizes he’s here for the long haul. The moxie hasn’t gone away but he’s a bit more measured than before. He’s certainly still learning, but he’s no longer a phenom. He’s simply phenomenal.

Early in the game, it was pretty apparent on social media that many of us in Chiefs Kingdom were worried in the first quarter. The Chiefs couldn’t move the chains. The Raiders put up 10 quick points. It was a reminder of times past, anxiety from years upon years knowing the team cannot handle any sort of a deficit. Instinctually the worry began to rise and questions began to be asked.

Then Mahomes answered all of them with the beautifully floated pass to Demarcus Robinson, a 47 yard strike that put them on the board. He followed suit to Mecole Hardman and then Travis Kelce before completing some unknown circle back to Robinson with a record-setting quarter. These passes weren’t gimmes where the receivers did all of the dirty work after getting the ball. Instead each was a gift from above, coming in downfield at just the right angle and time for the pass catcher to simply haul it in.

Simply put, it was an MVP performance from a man who already has one in his trophy case (if such pieces of furniture actually exist in his home).

Chiefs Kingdom has to learn that nothing will ever be out of reach again—including a Super Bowl—as long as Patrick Mahomes is the quarterback. And the NFL has to learn that at least one player doesn’t have to come down, even if league history says otherwise. Mahomes is rewriting history week after week, earning a place alongside the greats even as he’s still adjusting to the spotlight.

If he keeps it up, he’ll have his second straight MVP award and we’ll have to figure out more ways to describe the same greatness.