Patrick Mahomes is having the worst season of his career. Does it matter? | Patrick Mahomes

YesThe Kansas City Chiefs remained undefeated in their bid for immortality even in weeks. They have wins against teams like the Ravens, 49ers and Bengals en route to a 6-0 start. On defense they were elite, with Blender fielding the best quarterbacks in the game in succession. Players retreating want He has the feel of a runaway juggernaut, but something is wrong with KC's offense.

Given the nature of his job, Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL. This is not an opinion, it is a statement of fact. But in the early stages of the season, the Chiefs ran a neutral offense and Mahomes was a statistically neutral quarterback. The Chiefs offense has yet to score 30 points in a game, a measure of a unit's efficiency, despite facing only a defense that ranks in the top 12 in EPA/play.

If you hand that kind of schedule to Mahome in a normal year, you'll be able to turn in your MVP ballot and hit the cocktail bar in October. Instead, the Chiefs quarterback is having the worst regular season of his career and Lamar Jackson is rightfully the favorite to win MVP for the second year in a row. Mahomes, on the other hand, completed a solid 67% of his passes, but threw just six touchdowns and eight interceptions. His passer rating (82.5) through seven weeks is 20 points below his career average (102.5). If that weren't enough, Mahomes has had more games this season with less than 150 yards than games with more than 300 yards.

But those stats don't explain Mahomes' overall game. There were still moments of individual brilliance, the quarterback carrying a struggling offense to the line in close contests. He constantly affects plays with his feet, avoiding negative plays or struggling to keep the chains moving. But as we approach the halfway point of the regular season, KC's passing game has suffered one of the lowest drops of the quarterback's career.

“I don't think what you saw from us was normal because there weren't a lot of touchdown passes,” Mahomes said this week. “There have been a lot of turnovers, especially on my part. So, I think it shows the diversity of our team. It's not just about me. It's not just about statistics and light shows and things like that. It's about playing football as a team.

At his best, Mahomes is an offense unto himself: a skilled playmaker, warping defenses, cutting them off from the pocket or extending plays to engineer throws. But that version of Mahomes has yet to appear this season. Today, Mahomes plays with passion. Depending on the possession, it changes personality. The old swashbuckling Mahomes is there, ready to explode when necessary. But Mahomes, still only 29, is now channeling tight end Drew Brees, handing the ball off to the team's running backs and methodically marching the Chiefs down the field.

As Mahomes says, it's team football. But on Wednesday, the Chiefs traded veteran receiver DeAndre Hopkins to admit that the passing game isn't working and they need to find a quick solution.

Mahomes has the lowest passing yardage average in the league this season. It is more susceptible to pressure than in previous years. For the first time in his life, the pressure scares him (a little). Most worryingly, big shots have largely disappeared, while crazy decisions have crept into his game.

Six games is a small sample size, but the start of this season is, in many ways, a continuation of the trend that began last year. The Chiefs have become a highly efficient offense, focusing on their running game and relying on Mahomes to play error-free football in a more rhythm-based passing game. It's a style that requires quarterbacks to be impeccable, and Mahomes hasn't always held up his end of the bargain.

Last season must have been an anomaly. The miracle of KC's second straight title is that they won the Super Bowl with an incomplete roster. Even with Mahomes under center, the team's passing game generally stagnated during the regular season. Outside of Travis Kelce, the team's receiver room is full of beans and wire beans, with the Chiefs relying on rookie Rushie Rice to provide some spark to a mediocre position group. By the time the playoffs rolled around, the offense had improved: the Chiefs' running game was hitting defensive ends, Mahomes was finding chemistry with Rice, Kelce was at his best, and the quarterback was tied to his cap in crucial moments. . . With a top-five defense and a great offensive line, the champagne flowed.

However, this should be a one year old recipe. Early in Mahomes' career, the Chiefs were such a scoring machine that they could relentlessly chase a title without a defense. Last season they won it all by drowning and clumsily. This year, both should ascend together.

The Chiefs addressed their lack of weapons in the offseason by drafting wide receiver Xavier Worthy and signing Hollywood Brown in free agency. Both helped stretch the field vertically to give some strength to the passing game. After the catch, Kelce, Rice and Skye Moore would attack underneath and both would free up space to extend drives or build yards. Combine an innovative passing game with a refreshing running game and the team can ease the load on Mahomes and prepare Dom Perignon.

But injuries derailed those plans. Brown's injury is expected to sideline him for the remainder of the regular season. Rice suffered a knee injury in Week 2 and was placed on injured reserve, forcing the Chiefs to sign Juju Smith-Schuster, who later suffered a hamstring injury against the Niners. That leaves Gells as the only reliable target, with reduced options for the Chiefs. Worthy has shown flashes as a freshman, but hasn't been a reliable contributor. Moore, a second-round pick in 2022, has as many receptions as you this season: zero. Despite missing two games, Rice is still second on the team in targets, while the team's No. 2 tight end, Noah Gray, is fourth in targets despite playing only half of the snaps.

The receiver issues forced the Chiefs to redouble their efforts on a run-heavy approach, exponentially increasing the pressure on Mahomes. That's what makes this season so confusing: Mahomes constantly avoids ugly turnovers.

Mahomes is a walking firecracker. But his secret ingredient has always been that he rarely puts the ball in danger. In his first season as a starter, he threw 12 picks, but threw only 11 in the next two seasons combined. Last season, however, he threw a career-high 14 interceptions and his touchdown total dropped to 27. However, in the playoffs he didn't throw a turnover-worthy throw. Add the Super Bowl. Revenue is back this season. He already has eight interceptions, putting him on pace for the worst total of his career, and six of those eight come from clean pockets, and he has the highest turnover rate of his career. According to Pro Football Focus.

Not all interceptions are Mahomes' fault. Some have come through tip balls. Others have paid off through great defensive plays (and others get paid, too!). But while the offense's focus has changed, turnovers have been more painful for the offense than in previous years.

Hopkins is unlikely to be a man. No one knows how much tread is left on the tires of the now 32-year-old peak. But if the receiver provides reliable hands, he will improve on what Mahomes has done so far this season.

With Hopkins in the fold, the Chiefs can continue their offense until Mahomes gets a foothold on the ball. A quality defense, a solid offensive line and a consistent Mahomes are enough to make them contenders, and some strange moments from the quarterback will propel them over the top.

Mahomes is judged by a different set of rules than everyone else. October numbers no longer matter; It's about adding a ring to January. Nothing in the regular season screams a player's decline, but more says a lot about a quarterback adapting to his circumstances.

It's a long season. Mahomes, again, will be fun to watch as he emerges from the fog.