It’s rare in the world of professional sports when you get to witness a once-in-a-generation athlete. Those types of athletes are just so far and few between. Whether it was Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Bill Russell or Serena Williams, you usually know when you’re seeing someone special, someone that transcends the sport itself.

Another athlete has already joined their ranks, Patrick Mahomes, and Sunday, Feb. 9, he has the chance to do something never seen before — win three-straight Super Bowls and his fourth overall at the age of 29.

But on the cusp of a historic championship why has he become the most hated man, on what now seems the most hated team in sports?

The answer isn’t simple, it’s probably more complex and needs way more time to explain, but it more than likely boils down to a simple emotion — jealousy.

Every team is jealous that they don’t have a guy like Mahomes. Every athlete is jealous that they aren’t Mahomes. Every fan is jealous that Mahomes isn’t on their squad. Every single one of them is jealous, and they just can’t stand that he just keeps winning.

And it’s understandable too, whether you’re a fan or an athlete you want to be the best, you want to be the one raising the trophy at the end of the season. So when Mahomes plays the role of spoiler every single year, ripping the heart out of teams and fans across America, it’s understandable why so many have grown to hate them.

But what is so hard to understand is why, after three Super Bowls and seven-straight AFC Championship appearances, the entire country has turned completely against him and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Are people just that soft that they can’t handle seeing a single athlete dominate in the way Mahomes has?

And the argument of wanting parity in the game is also understandable. Many fans would probably love to see Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills finally get past Mahomes, or to see Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals get back to the Big Game. Or quite frankly just see any other team besides the Chiefs.

It’s not like Mahomes is skipping the line and just playing tomato cans en route to each title either. He’s going up against the best the league has to offer, and they just can’t beat him. Allen is 0-4 against Mahomes in the postseason, and Burrow is 1-1 but hasn’t sniffed the Super Bowl since beating the Chiefs three years ago.

So, after nearly seven years of running laps around the league, he has become a modern-day supervillain. People continue to grasp at straws to discredit his historical career. Whether he has the refs in his back pocket, or some unnatural force that somehow wills him to victory, it’s all been said — and he continues to prove them all wrong.

There was no phantom penalty call that bailed him out on Jan. 26 in a 32-29 win over Buffalo. Mahomes made enough winning plays to come out on top. Allen had the ball with a chance to win the game, he couldn’t get the job done. If Mahomes was in that situation, it probably ends with him on top. 

Maybe it’s just time to admit he is one of the greatest competitors to ever grace a field of competition. And maybe it’s time for people to truly appreciate what they are witnessing, because you just don’t know when you’ll see something like this again.

Mahomes and the Chiefs are one win away from something truly historic. No team has ever won three-straight Super Bowls — we are witnessing history unfolding in front of our eyes.

Just think about all the stories you’ve heard about Jordan’s six rings or Joe Montana’s four Super Bowl victories. Many alive today have no memory of either, and there are countless great moments in sports that you can only relive through old ESPN documentaries.

Super Bowl LIX provides you with the opportunity to witness one of these great moments in sports. A moment that will be talked about for decades as one of the greatest runs in professional sports.

So if Sunday ends with Mahomes hoisting the Lombardi Trophy with red and white confetti raining down on him — don’t be mad. Don’t just throw your hands up and complain that the Chiefs won again. Instead take a moment and appreciate what you’re witnessing.

Because you just may never see it again — unless he wins next year too.