The stage was set for a storming.   

On Saturday night, a week after he completed an epic comeback against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, Philip Rivers entered a primetime matchup against the Ravens' top-ranked defense with a chance to lead his Chargers to the top of the division and conference, and disrupt what has been a relatively drama-free MVP race in the month of December. Everything needed to go right in order for Rivers to have a chance to steal MVP away from Mahomes. The Chargers needed to surpass the Chiefs in the AFC West. Mahomes needed to submit two lackluster outings to close out the season. Rivers needed to come up big against the Ravens and then the Broncos in Denver. His late push started on Saturday night against the Ravens.

As quickly as the moment came, it evaporated even quicker. On Saturday night, Rivers submitted the worst outing of an otherwise spectacular season, going 23 of 37 for 181 yards (4.9 yards per attempt), no touchdowns, two interceptions, and a 51.7 passer rating. 

He began the game by turning what could've been a touchdown into an interception.

He ended the game -- after a devastating Antonio Gates fumble -- with an interception.

Adding insult to injury, the Chiefs suffered a narrow loss at the hands of the Seahawks, which means the Chargers would've leapfrogged the Chiefs in the standings if they'd been able to beat the Ravens, which could've resulted in Rivers overtaking Mahomes in the MVP standings. The opening was there. But Rivers failed to take advantage of the opportunity. 

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To be absolutely clear, a lot of ifs needed to go in Rivers' favor for him to pass Mahomes. It's not like Rivers choked away a lead over Mahomes. This has been Mahomes' race to lose for a while now. Furthermore, one bad game against one of the league's best defenses in a season filled with magnificent quarterback play does not make Rivers a bad quarterback all of a sudden. He's had an incredible season that's worthy of recognition. It's just that, to win MVP when the competition is Mahomes -- who, in a down game, threw for 273 and three touchdowns -- and Drew Brees, you can't suffer a loss like that with a performance like that.

A week after Rivers earned one first-place MVP vote from one of our five NFL writers and overtook Brees for second place on our collective MVP poll, Rivers slipped back below Brees, dropping from 20 points to eight points. Mahomes, once again, retained his lead atop the leaderboard. It's unanimous. Heading into Week 17, Mahomes is our choice for MVP. Barring a meltdown against a bad Raiders team, he'll likely remain our MVP. With Rivers going down, every challenger in Mahomes' path has been vanquished.   

Below, you'll find our ballot. Scroll farther down below to see all five individual ballots.

MVP vote heading into Week 17

1. Patrick Mahomes -- 25 points
2. Drew Brees -- 20 points
T-3. Philip Rivers -- 8 points
T-3. Andrew Luck -- 8 points
5. Aaron Donald --  6 points
6. Khalil Mack -- 5 points
7. Russell Wilson  3 points

John Breech's ballot

  1. Patrick Mahomes
  2. Drew Brees
  3. Andrew Luck
  4. Russell Wilson 
  5. Aaron Donald

The Chiefs might have lost in Week 16, but I'm definitely not going to hold it against Patrick Mahomes, and that's because he threw for 273 yards and three touchdowns. If the Chiefs' loss to Seattle proved one thing, it's that Mahomes is playing with the worst defense of anyone on my ballot, which means he has to do the most to make sure his team wins every week. Drew Brees is still in the second spot on my ballot and since he's unlikely to play very much in Week 17, I can't imagine moving him past Mahomes in my final ballot. 

As for the final three spots, I didn't even really need to fill those out because this is a two-horse race heading into the final week of the season. However, I do think two of the guys on my list -- Luck and Donald -- will definitely be winning their own postseason awards, with Luck taking home Comeback Player of the Year honors and Donald winning Defensive Player of the Year. Donald has already set the single-season record for most sacks by a defensive tackle and could tie the NFL record with three sacks in Week 17. 

Will Brinson's ballot 

  1. Patrick Mahomes
  2. Drew Brees
  3. Philip Rivers
  4. Andrew Luck
  5. Russell Wilson

This should be a pretty concrete list for everyone, in my opinion. The only real question is the order. The Rams are all off the board for me, even Aaron Donald. There are just five quarterbacks who have been too good to leave off. Rivers losing to the Ravens basically eliminated him from stealing the show, although I legit believe he was in contention if the Saints and Chiefs had lost in Week 16. Luck just keeps dragging the Colts to wins and is threatening to take a team that was projected for like five or six wins at most to 10 wins and the playoffs. Wilson and the Seahawks have been incredible and he's stepping up/getting hot as the postseason approaches. But ultimately it's just Mahomes vs. Brees and how you value your quarterback. Brees has been better in big games, but Mahomes has been more prolific and had to overcome a bad defense and a lot more losses in terms of personnel attrition than Brees. Give me Mahomes but it's very close -- I wouldn't blame anyone for giving Brees the lifetime achievement tiebreaker, although presuming Mahomes will win an MVP sooner or later is just faulty. 

Jared Dubin's ballot

  1. Patrick Mahomes
  2. Drew Brees
  3. Philip Rivers
  4. Aaron Donald
  5. Khalil Mack

I have the same ballot as last week. Barring something completely insane happening, I will have the same ballot next week. Patrick Mahomes is your MVP. 

Sean Wagner-McGough's ballot

  1. Patrick Mahomes
  2. Drew Brees
  3. Khalil Mack 
  4. Philip Rivers
  5. Andrew Luck

Mahomes would need to collapse next week and Brees would need to go off in order for Brees to surpass Mahomes, but that won't happen considering the Chiefs close out the year against the Raiders and the Saints have no incentive to play their starters in Week 17 after clinching home-field advantage. The MVP race is over. Mahomes has been better almost all season. Brees doesn't deserve to steal MVP votes away from Mahomes just because he's a 39-year-old future Hall of Famer who has unfortunately and improbably never won MVP in his career. That wouldn't be fair to Mahomes, who has been the best player all season long. It's not a lifetime achievement award. It's an award for the most valuable player of this season alone. That player is Mahomes.

Ryan Wilson's ballot

  1. Patrick Mahomes
  2. Drew Brees
  3. Aaron Donald
  4. Andrew Luck
  5. Khalil Mack

Patrick Mahomes wrapped up the award on Sunday night in Seattle, where he threw for 273 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 30 touchdown passes on the road in a season, an NFL record. Yes, we understand that the Chiefs lost but Mahomes defines the award -- most valuable. Brees was really good in the Saints win over the Steelers but on a week-by-week basis, he hasn't been better than Mahomes. Aaron Donald's dominating season continued on Sunday when he racked up three more sacks against the Cardinals. Reminder: He's an interior defensive lineman who has 19.5 sacks on the year. That's insane. Andrew Luck replaces Philip Rivers in our top-5 this week after another outstanding effort, this time in a must-win game against the Giants.