For the third straight season, the Kansas City Chiefs are headed back to the Super Bowl, having outlasted the Buffalo Bills in another classic AFC Championship Game on Sunday evening. And for the third straight season, quarterback Patrick Mahomes is the favorite to take home Super Bowl MVP honors when he leads his team against the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans.
That Mahomes would be atop the early odds for Super Bowl MVP is hardly a surprise; he's won two of them in a row and three overall already in his career, and if the Chiefs do win in two weeks' time, it's hard to imagine they do so without a vintage performance from their QB. And for the most part, the rest of the list is also business as usual: Saquon Barkley has the second shortest odds at +290, while Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts comes in at +380.
- Patrick Mahomes: +105
- Saquon Barkley: +290
- Jalen Hurts: +380
- Travis Kelce: +1700
- Xavier Worthy: +3000
- A.J. Brown: +3200
- DeVonta Smith: +5000
- Kareem Hunt: +6000
- Chris Jones: +6000
- Marquise “Hollywood” Brown: +6500
- Jalen Carter: +7500
- Zack Baun: +9000
- Dallas Goedert: +10000
- Isiah Pacheco: +10000
- George Karlaftis: +10000
A bit lower down on the list, however, is where things get a little interesting. While names like Travis Kelce, A.J. Brown and Chris Jones are about where you'd expect, one player in particular isn't being given much attention at all — for reasons that might spell trouble for Kansas City's threepeat hopes.
Chiefs' Super Bowl MVP odds throw some doubt on Isiah Pacheco, Kansas City backfield
Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco didn't play much of a roll in his team's win over Buffalo, carrying just five times for 12 yards. It was instead Kareem Hunt who did the heavy lifting for Kansas City's backfield, with 17 rushes for 64 yards and a score. That was the continuation of a weeks-long trend: Pacheco was expected to resume the RB1 role upon his return from injury after Thanksgiving, from a combined 34 carries over his first three games back to just 25 over the next four.
And Vegas seems to see that trend continue in the Super Bowl. While Hunt is at +6000 to take home MVP honors, the eighth-shortest odds listed, Pacheco is all the way down near Dallas Goedert and George Karlaftis at +10000. It sure seems like the oddsmakers don't see this as anything close to an even committee right now, and there's not much reason to given Pacheco's recent play.
It stood to reason that he would need a little time to shake off the rust after recovering from a fractured fibula, and it could very well be that he's still rounding into form. But the Chiefs are now out of runway, and it's been almost exactly two months since he returned to game action. That he still doesn't look like himself suggests that he's playing at less than 100 percent right now, and that could spell trouble against a ferocious Eagles front featuring Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis and others.