Patrick Mahomes is turning into a villain, the LeBron James of the NFL

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — There have been so many points during the 2024 season when Patrick Mahomes has been unapologetically himself. The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback has also caused controversy, this year more than ever.

It's no coincidence. But it's also no fault of his own.

Some NFL fans think the game is rigged to help the Chiefs win. That every advantageous flag is another indication that the league is somehow orchestrating the three-peat. And that Mahomes, who has probably never played worse, is coasting to the top seed in the AFC.

It's not real. But when the haters decide to hate, reality is irrelevant.

This recent development begs the question: How has Mahomes turned into the NFL's villain?

"I feel like he earned it," Bills cornerback Cam Lewis told FOX Sports in the postgame locker room after intercepting Mahomes in Week 11. "LeBron, one of the greatest basketball players, and he gets a lot of hate from winning championships. Steph Curry. So that just comes with the success, man. I feel like that should be a compliment to [Mahomes]. … I mean, s---, he's f---ing won Super Bowls. That's what you're trying to do in this league. He's done it. So that's why I'm saying he's earned it."

It's counterintuitive — the idea of somehow earning hate as a mantle of success.

But I'd bet Mahomes' biggest haters are the people who want to be as good at something as Mahomes is at football. The simple explanation is jealousy.

"You said it. Not me," Chiefs running back Samaje Perine said.

But even discussion of Mahomes' controversies is controversial. When I brought up the idea that Mahomes had taken on the role as the NFL's villain — like LeBron in the NBA — to Christian Benford in the Bills locker room, cornerback Rasul Douglas interjected.

"Yo chill. Yo f--- no. Yo hell no," Douglas said. "You just said he's the most hated player?"

I said, yes. Then I explained what happens on social media whenever the Chiefs get a win: memes of Mahomes kissing officials and outcry against his mediocre play. It's not just on social media, however. People are rooting against Mahomes, who is now enemy No. 1 around the NFL.

"I wasn't giving a feud to nobody. I was just saying that's crazy," Douglas said. "How's he the villain?"

Take the team's game-winning field goal block against the Denver Broncos. Mahomes ran onto the field doing an airplane to celebrate. Benign, right?

Check out the moment when, earlier in that game, a hot microphone caught Mahomes asking his right tackle to let him know when a defender was getting close to him. No big deal?

Look at that 33-yard run he logged against the San Francisco 49ers. Epic, right?

And yet every single one of those moments ballooned under scrutiny.

Mahomes' celebration against the Broncos drew criticism because he needed so much help from the rest of his team to keep an undefeated season alive. (Which has been the case all season long.)

Folks misinterpreted Mahomes' conversation with his tackle, and thought he was asking the referees to let him know when a rusher was coming. And given the general conspiracy that officials are trying to help the Chiefs win, that had fans demanding an NFL investigation.

The highlight-reel rushing play had people discussing whether Mahomes was pretending to go out of bounds, only to cut back into play and convert the rush into a massive gainer when the defenders gave up — in part because hitting Mahomes is likely to draw a foul.

It's all about how you see Mahomes.

He hasn't changed. He's been doing this stuff for years.

It's merely the perception that's changing. Like LeBron. Like Michael Jordan. Like the Alabama Crimson Tide. Like Tom Brady. At the beginning of their run, they were one thing. And even as they stayed the same, the perception of them evolved. They seemed like another.

Like a villain.

When someone ascends into greatness, the haters come out of the woodwork. And while Mahomes has long been a hero — the Iron Man of the NFL — he's headed into his villain phase — perhaps the Doctor Doom. (If Robert Downey Jr. is set to make that transition, it only makes sense that Mahomes does the same.) A winner's actions get distorted.

"If you don't have haters, you're not doing something right," Chiefs safety Justin Reid told me. "So Patrick operates at a level of excellence — Patrick operates at a very high level consistently, and when you do that, then everybody's watching. It's natural that people want their team to win, or they want to see whoever's the top dog fall off the mountain. So that just is what it is."

In my discussions with multiple players in both the Kansas City and Buffalo locker rooms, Douglas was the only player who didn't see things this way.

"Everybody respects him," Douglas said. "But LeBron is probably the greatest basketball player of all time." 

How about MJ? 

"We can argue that."

So you can't argue that Mahomes is better than Brady?

"Exactly," Douglas said. "Can't even say Montana either."

Isn't Mahomes starting to enter that conversation?

"For sure, but — not like Tom."

So even if Mahomes isn't in the greatness conversation with LeBron or Brady, is there any element of the Chiefs QB being the guy no one likes?

"You've gotta beat him. Because you know it may not look good in the regular season, but by the playoffs, somehow it comes along," Douglas said.

It seemed Douglas agreed to disagree, which was the whole point of having the conversation. Because it's mostly just a label slapped on Mahomes. I'm not trying to reinforce it but rather interrogate it. The interesting part about it is that's all it is. Mahomes is a good guy. He has always been a good guy, a family man and a terrific teammate.

"He doesn't act like he sits on a pedestal like he's better than anybody else," Perine said. "When you have as much success as he's had, then people are going to find some way to hate on him. He doesn't let it affect him. He just goes out and plays his game and goes back home to his family. That's the type of guy that he is. He's a great locker room guy. He's a great guy to be around. He's just one of the guys."

It's important not to lose those qualities — or the love of the game.

He's lighthearted and creative in practices and warmups. He goofs around in moments when most quarterbacks are laser-focused. Mahomes has continued his exploration of trick throws (from the underhanded to the lefthanded to the no-look to the behind-the-back). He's clearly still having fun.

I bring that up because of something LeBron told ESPN in 2011 when he was struggling with the villain label.

"I play the game fun, joyful, and I let my game do all of the talking and I got away from that. That's what I lost last year," James said. "Going through my first seven years in the NBA, I was always the ‘liked one' and to be on the other side — they call it the dark side or the villain or whatever they call it — it was definitely challenging for myself. It was a situation I had never been in before, and it took awhile. ... It took a long time to adjust to it."

No matter what the response is outside the building, Mahomes is at the center of the Chiefs locker room to take care of his teammates and preserve their resiliency. And their perfectionism.

Even while enjoying himself on the field, Mahomes has taken on the tone of Eeyore off the field. Before the 2024 season, Mahomes discussed how the 2023 regular season (which later culminated in a Super Bowl trophy) "wasn't a lot of fun" for the offense. After the win over the Broncos, Mahomes emphasized his two missed touchdown opportunities. He has, often, discussed how the Chiefs offense is not playing at the level it should be. And that he's at the center of that.

You know who loved that?

The NFL's biggest villain — maybe of all time. A huge Eeyore, too.

It's Bill Belichick.

"One of the things that really jumped out at me was last night when they interviewed Mahomes, he talked about, I mean, they're 3-0, and you could easily sit there and say, oh, they're on course," Belichick said on "The Pat McAfee Show" earlier this season. "And here we go again, a big win in Atlanta. But, there's Mahomes talking about how bad they're playing and how much harder they need to work and improve."

But for all the comparisons between Belichick and Emperor Palpatine (the villain in "Star Wars"), Patriots players mostly loved him. They enjoyed his humor, respected his football acumen and even felt like Belichick's office was a safe space to talk about … anything. Behind closed doors, Belichick was different than the public perception, players always said.

These villains are not like what we see in "Star Wars" or Marvel movies. It's more like the quote from "The Dark Knight": "You either die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain." There's an unnatural evolution toward negativity in our culture. 

"I think hating is corny," K.C. cornerback Christian Benford said.

The Chiefs know the real Mahomes. They know he's neither a superhero nor a supervillain.

He's a leader.

"He brings us in when it's a win and he brings us in when it's a loss," Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal said. "He's done such a good job of just bringing everybody together — offense, defense, special teams. He's been such a leader to us. … I think that's why us as a team — we tend to bounce back: his leadership."

Prior to joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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