ATLANTA -- Although there was a heated race during the middle of the year, at the end of the day it was obvious who would win the 2018 NFL MVP award. Patrick Mahomes was named the Most Valuable Player in the NFL for the 2018 season on Saturday night at NFL Honors.

Mahomes had a monster season, becoming just the second person to throw for 5,000 passing yards and 50 touchdowns in NFL history, joining Peyton Manning in that category.

This wasn't out of nowhere, as Mahomes was a first-round pick, but surely not many people believed he would be the MVP in just his second season after sitting behind Alex Smith during all but one game of his rookie year.

Mahomes' electric arm and athletic skillset were a perfect fit for Andy Reid's system in Kansas City, and as a result he exploded on the scene out of the gate, piling up touchdown passes at an unprecedented rate for a young player. 

His 2018 NFL season was historic. The 23-year-old was a first-team All-Pro (over Drew Brees). He completed 66 percent of his passes while throwing for 5,097 yards, 50 touchdowns and just 12 interceptions. Mahomes also led the league with an absurd 9.6 yards per attempt -- every single time he tried to throw the ball he nearly averaged a first down. 

Despite concerns that he might throw interceptions with a gunslinging style of play, Mahomes managed to operate the offense efficiently and lethally.

Mahomes slung the ball deep to Tyreek Hill, he consistently found Travis Kelce down the seam and he never really hit that rough patch of football you tend to expect from most young quarterbacks. He wowed us with no-look passes and he led comebacks on the biggest stages possible. Mahomes nearly put the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, but not for Tom Brady leading an overtime touchdown drive in Kansas City. 

The Chiefs are set for the foreseeable future because of Mahomes -- it's amazing to see how quickly the future rolled into town. 

Super Bowl LIII is Sunday, Feb. 3, in Atlanta and it will air on CBS and streamed here on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports App for free on most connected devices.