Chiefs' Hopkins: Mahomes hated for winning too much

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins believes fans are only complimenting Patrick Mahomes when they portray the star quarterback as a villain.

"Everybody has to choose a team they go against or that they feel is getting help from someone," Hopkins said, per The Athletic's Michael Silver. "Everybody has to choose a villain, and it's easy to choose someone who's winning as much as our guy is.

"How can Patrick Mahomes be the villain? The same way Tom Brady could be and the same way Michael Jordan was. Why do people still talk about MJ pushing off almost 30 years later? Because he's one of the greatest ever to do it, and when he won his sixth, people were tired of watching him win."

Mahomes and the Chiefs have received criticism over the years for getting favorable calls from referees, and those complaints continued this postseason.

Mahomes drew two controversial penalties in the divisional-round matchup against the Houston Texans: one roughing the passer penalty on defensive end Will Anderson and an unnecessary roughness call on linebacker Henry To'oTo'o. Anderson told reporters postgame that he knew "it was going to be us against the refs going into" the contest.

Late in the fourth quarter of Sunday's conference championship, Bills quarterback Josh Allen attempted to sneak the ball on fourth-and-1 but was ruled short despite one referee appearing to give Buffalo a first down.

The Chiefs scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion on the ensuing drive to go up 29-22 and never relinquished the lead from there en route to winning 32-29.

The Chiefs will make their fifth Super Bowl appearance with Mahomes under center when they play the Philadelphia Eagles on Feb. 9, hoping to claim the NFL's first-ever Lombardi Trophy three-peat.

In the seven years that Mahomes has started at quarterback for the Chiefs, the club has won three Lombardi Trophies and made it to the conference championship each season, while the signal-caller has earned three Super Bowl MVPs.

Mahomes has thrown for 422 yards and two touchdowns and fumbled twice in two games this postseason. He's also rushed for 57 yards and two touchdowns.

"It's just so hard to get to the Super Bowl, and I don't take it for granted," Mahomes said postgame Sunday. "It takes every single person on the team, and you saw that tonight. It was special teams, it was offense, it was defense."