MVP winners haven’t done well in the Super Bowl recently
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes won the NFL MVP award for the 2022 season. He blew his second-place competition, Jalen Hurts, out of the water in points totals for MVP voting. Mahomes received 490 points to Hurts 193. Hurts will try and get the last laugh in Sunday’s Super Bowl game.
The Eagles come into the contest favored to win. And some recent history is on their side–if you think winning the MVP alters a player’s performance in the big game. According to Adam Schefter with ESPN, MVP winners playing in the Super Bowl have lost their last nine straight appearances.
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1623896517181591555
The last MVP winner to win the championship was Kurt Warner. He won the MVP for the 1999 season, the same year his St. Louis Rams narrowly defeated the Tennessee Titans to win Super Bowl XXXIV in “The One Yard Short” game. Warner would win the Super Bowl MVP award for the game as well.
Mahomes and the Chiefs have a chance to reverse the trend of NFL-MVP Super Bowl losers. But they’ll face a tall task in the suddenly healthy Eagles. Hurts, who came in second in MVP voting, will be a formidable opponent Sunday. If there’s one quarterback that could be expected to reverse the trend, it would be Mahomes.
However, Mahomes’ first MVP in 2018 victory came after a playoff disappointment. The Chiefs lost to the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game that season.
We’ll see what these sorts of trends mean at the end of Sunday night. After all, the Chiefs do have one bit of luck on their side Sunday. The Chiefs will wear their white uniforms for the game. The team wearing white has brought home the Vince Lombardi Trophy 15 of the last 18 times.
