As the NFL’s preeminent superstar on and off the field, Patrick Mahomes has a disproportionate amount of media attention devoted to him.
With waves of new fans entering the fold every year, Mahomes is a villain for many of them.
What Patrick Mahomes Thinks About Playing the NFL’s Villain Role
The Kansas City Chiefs morphed from darlings into the villain role soon after they won their second Super Bowl title in February 2023. Many had expected them to lose steam following Tyreek Hill’s departure. Instead, they got to a 14-3 record, all the way to becoming Super Bowl champions too (where Mahomes won Super Bowl MVP).
This was followed by a huge wave of fans joining the Chiefs fan base because of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s romance at the start of the 2023 NFL season. Since that time period, while the Chiefs fan base has itself been burgeoning, 31 other fan bases have gotten increasingly polarized against them.
Mahomes was asked about the change in how the average NFL fan views them ahead of last year’s Super Bowl. The Chiefs signal-caller had a politically correct reply to that question, downplaying the idea of feeding off of the negativity but felt compelled to play the part:
“I just like winning. If you win a lot and that causes you to be a villain, then I’m okay with it. But at the end of the day, I’m gonna enjoy playing the game and try to win as much as possible.”
Patrick Mahomes was asked if winning too much was causing him to become a villain:
“I just like winning. If you win a lot and that causes you to be the villain, I’m okay with it” pic.twitter.com/13HKLhSeqb
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) February 7, 2024
The Chiefs then went on to take their third Super Bowl title in five seasons, cementing their place in league history. Their 15-2 record this past regular season suggests that they are squarely in the hunt to seal the first Lombardi Trophy three-peat in NFL history.
But things outside of the gridiron tend not to affect the greatest players. And Mahomes has proven, time and again, that he deserves to be mentioned alongside them. He’s even ready to don the villain role if that comes with winning.