After his MVP season in 2018, football fans everywhere knew Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was really, really good.

This season, ankle and knee injuries — not to mention Lamar Jackson’s emergence — shifted attention away from Mahomes.

But no longer.

In the Chiefs’ 35-24 win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, Mahomes showed why he’s the NFL’s best young quarterback and (gasp!) an even better player than he was last season. The top standout in the “Things I Noticed”: Mahomes is starting to use his legs as a running threat, which should give the San Francisco 49ers another concern heading into Super Bowl LIV.

View photos (Yahoo Sports) More

After rushing for 19 yards in two playoff games a year ago, Mahomes has rushed for 106 in his two playoff games this season. It’s another form of evolution for him as a quarterback, another taunt to defenses who can’t handle his arm anyway.

In the video above, I explained how Mahomes’ scrambling is putting defenses in an impossible situation. The 49ers, who feature a strong defense, will be tasked with handling it in Miami. If they can’t, they’ll be watching Mahomes and the Chiefs lift the Lombardi Trophy.

View photos Patrick Mahomes is showing off his wheels this postseason, rushing for 53 yards in each of his two playoff wins this month. (Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports) More

So, about Derrick Henry ...

For all the talk of how the Chiefs’ 28th-ranked run defense would fare against Tennessee’s monstrous running back, the answer was … pretty darn well!

The Chiefs held Derrick Henry to 69 yards rushing, his lowest output in 10 games. It had a lot to do with the improved physicality and positioning that they showed against Henry in Week 10, when he ran for 188 yards.

All that showed up on one particular play. Tennessee faced a third-and-1 at their own 41, trailing 21-17 in the third quarter. This is the sort of down the Titans almost always convert. This time, the Chiefs’ defensive front — led by big Mike Pennel, Reggie Ragland and Damien Wilson — all converged to stop Henry for no gain:

By holding Henry down, the Chiefs showed they are a complete football team. Now they have to do it one more time, in the Super Bowl, against the league’s second-best rushing attack.

A man making a case to get P-A-I-D

Anyone who has followed me for a while knows that I believe in the mythical powers of the contract year, and how the contract year is undefeated.

Well, sometimes a pre-contract year can be pretty darn good too. That’s what we’re seeing from the Chiefs’ Tanoh Kpassagnon. A gifted but raw second-round pick in 2017, we’re now seeing the 6-foot-7, 290-pound defensive end tap into his potential under new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

Kpassagnon is built like he was chiseled out of marble, and he combines that with superior athleticism. He was one of the best testers at his position in the draft, but after playing collegiately at Villanova, the Chiefs knew he’d need some time to adjust.

Well, the time has come. Kpassagnon’s two sacks led the Chiefs on Sunday, and for the season, he’s tied for third on the team in hurries with 11 and fifth in sacks with four. He has also logged the second-most snaps (62.7 percent) of any Chiefs D-lineman not named Frank Clark.

He’ll be a free agent after the 2020 season, and if the Chiefs let him hit the open market, he fits the profile of a guy some team will pay — young, ascending and with his best football ahead of him.

The Belldozer

Chiefs tight end Blake Bell earned the nickname ”The Belldozer” for his goal line exploits during his time as a red-zone quarterback at Oklahoma. Given the way he blocked Sunday, the nickname should apply to his blocking.

Bell, a former fourth-round pick of the 49ers, has played a role as a backup tight end with the Chiefs, catching eight passes for 67 yards in 37 percent of the regular-season snaps. Blocks like this earn the respect of the coaching staff, and given the way the 49ers will likely scheme to take away Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce, it wouldn’t surprise me if a player like Bell makes an impact in the Super Bowl.