Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the 2022 NFL MVP.

Mahomes was announced as the MVP at the NFL Honors ceremony in Phoenix on Thursday night. He was a near-unanimous selection, receiving 48 of 50 first-place votes and 490 points. Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts finished second with 193 points.

Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen came in third place followed by Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow and Minnesota Vikings WR Justin Jefferson.

Mahomes, who is making history at Super Bowl LVII in three short days when he starts against Hurts, led the Chiefs to a 14-3 record in the 2022 NFL regular season and the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC playoffs.

He led the league in passing yards and touchdowns in 2022, and was named to the NFL’s First Team All-Pro. 

Despite suffering a high ankle sprain in the team’s opening playoff game against Jacksonville, Mahomes was good enough to get Kansas City back to the Super Bowl for the third time in four years.

The MVP award is the second recognition for Mahomes in five NFL seasons. He was named the league’s Most Valuable Player and its Offensive Player of the Year in 2018. 

In many ways, the 2022 campaign was a mirror of that MVP season for the Chiefs signal-caller.

Five seasons ago, Mahomes also led the league in passing touchdowns and was the starting quarterback on that year’s All-Pro team. 

The big difference, of course, is the Super Bowl berth. In 2018, the Chiefs fell short in the AFC Championship Game against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. 

That game marked the first five consecutive AFC championship appearances for Kansas City. With Mahomes under center, the Chiefs have gone 3-2 in those contests and went on to win Super Bowl LIV over the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 2, 2020.

Here’s a deeper look at Patrick Mahomes’ career as the two-time MVP prepares for the biggest game of his career in Arizona on Sunday.

Patrick Mahomes is 27 years old. He will turn 28 after the Chiefs’ Week 1 game in the 2023 NFL regular season.

At 27, Mahomes is not the youngest two-time winner of the NFL MVP trophy. That honor belongs to Jim Brown who captured back-to-back MVPs in 1957 and 1958. 

Brown was a rookie during the 1957 NFL season which means he won the top honor in both his first and second year in the league.

And yes, that has never been done since.

Patrick Mahomes’ regular season stats for the 2022 NFL season were some of his career best. The Chiefs QB threw for a league-high 41 touchdowns and a personal-best 5,250 passing yards (also good for No. 1 in the league this year). 

His 308.8 passing yards per game were also good for best in the league. 

Mahomes finished with a completion percentage of 67.1%. His QBR was tops in the NFL this season at 77.6.

Aaron Rodgers was the defending MVP entering the 2022 NFL season, and was actually a back-to-back winner having captured football’s top honor in both 2020 and 2021.

Rodgers joined a short list that included Brown (see above) and Hall of Fame quarterbacks Joe Montana, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning.

Favre, the league’s only three-peat MVP winner, took home the NFL’s Most Valuable Player recognition in 1995, 1996 and 1997.

Manning is no slouch here, either. He’s the only player to win consecutive MVPs twice. He took home the trophy in 2003 and 2004, and then came back again to win it in consecutive seasons in 2008 and 2009.

Mahomes is the 10th player to win multiple MVP awards, joining Peyton Manning (5 MVPs), Aaron Rodgers (4), Tom Brady (3), Jim Brown (3), Brett Favre (3), Johnny Unitas (3), Joe Montana (2), Steve Young (2) and Kurt Warner (2).

Mahomes is looking to do something that hasn’t been done since last century – win the NFL MVP and the Super Bowl in the same year.

The last player to conquer the football world in such fashion was Kurt Warner in 1999. 

Warner isn’t alone in such a designation as he’s one of nine NFL MVPs who also lifted the Lombardi Trophy in their MVP campaign season.

The MVP also has plenty of experience losing the Super Bowl. That has happened 10 times in NFL history – nine of which have happened since Warner did just that, losing to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI in 2001.