Who’s ready for the postseason version of Petty Mahomes?

Five Kansas City Chiefs were selected to the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl Games on Thursday, but quarterback Patrick Mahomes was not one of them. It is the first time since his rookie season, which he sat out most of, that he hasn’t been named a Pro Bowler.

Statistically, Mahomes had the worst season of his seven-year run as a starter. He threw for a career-low 3,928 yards and tied for the least amount of passing touchdowns with 26. However, he played much better once the calendar flipped to November, averaging 253 passing yards and two touchdowns per game.

Mahomes was dealt a tough hand in 2024. His top two wide receivers, Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown, missed the majority of the season with significant injuries. Starting running back Isiah Pacheco missed nine games with an ankle injury, and the left tackle position as been a revolving door of poor play and injuries.

Fortunately, things are now swinging in Kansas City’s favor. Brown and Pacheco have returned to the lineup and are playing well, and Joe Thuney has solidified the left tackle position. Both the Chiefs’ offense and Mahomes are now looking like what most expected before the start of the season.

However, don’t expect Mahomes to get complacent. His highly competitive nature and the chip on his shoulder is in part what makes him great. It’s probably safe to say that not being selected as a Pro Bowler is going to motivate him to prove to his peers and fans that he’s still the best quarterback in the NFL.

Former star running back and LeSean McCoy played with Mahomes in 2019 during his one-year stint with the Chiefs. While on his FS1 show “The Facility”  on Friday morning, McCoy revisited a memorable Mahomes story from that season, which is where the nickname Petty Mahomes originated from.

“We’re playing the [Chicago] Bears, right?” McCoy said. “And Mitchell Trubisky was the quarterback. And he [Patrick Mahomes] was so, like, pissed off playing this game. I’m thinking we’re about smoke the Bears. At the beginning of the game he’s so focused when we start playing. He scores a touchdown, right? He started doing, he’s counting. He scores again, he started counting again. So I’m like, yo, why does he keep doing that? What’s going on today? Mitchell Trubisky, though. He [Mahomes] was counting how many picks they (the Bears) passed him up. And Chicago took Mitchell Trubisky instead of Patrick Mahomes. And I was like, dog, you still in your mind are thinking about Mitchell Trubisky? He [Trubsisky] ain’t nothing to talk about, right? But in his [Mahomes’] mind, as being the MVP at this time, he was big-time, and still has to have something against you? Like, okay, I got to make this thing right. That’s how competitive he is.”

McCoy then went out to compare that situation with Mahomes being snubbed from making the Pro Bowl, and concluded with this simple message:

“He [Mahomes] can’t laugh right now, but he’ll get the last laugh,” McCoy said. “That’s who Patrick Mahomes is.”

With how much the Chiefs have improved offensively as of late and Mahomes feeling the need to once again prove himself, opposing teams and fans alike should be worried. Add in the extra motivation that the Chiefs as a whole have to achieve the first Super Bowl three-peat in NFL history, Kansas City will likely not go out quietly.