LAS VEGAS — Down three, final drive, Super Bowl title on the line. Is there anyone else you’d want leading your huddle than Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes?
The three-time Super Bowl MVP did it again on Sunday, leading his team to the game-tying FG at the end of regulation and the game-winning TD in OT to earn the Chiefs their third title in five years. Mahomes and the Chiefs trailed by double-digits in all three of their title wins. The more amazing part? No one is surprised.
Chiefs Player Talk Patrick Mahomes Magic
“I guess at this point, I take it for granted, but I know we’re in every single game I ever played in with him no matter what the score is, no matter how much time is left,” said Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce. “That guy’s got magic in his right arm, man, and he just … he found ways to propel us even with his legs as you saw today.”
The two-time league MVP was 8-8 for 42 yards, ran for an additional 27 yards on key third and fourth short-yardage downs on the final OT drive, and was 5-8 for 58 yards (and six rushing yards) on the game-tying drive in the fourth quarter.
That’s 13-16 for 100 yards passing and 33 rushing yards with the entire season on the line. To put it in perspective, there have been seven double-digit comebacks in Super Bowl history, and Mahomes is responsible for three of them. He is 3-1 when trailing by 10+ points in a Super Bowl, while every other quarterback is 4-48, a stat even he joked about in the postgame presser.
“I’m going to try to stop getting down 10 points in these games and make them a little bit easier, but I’m proud of how the guys fought,” Mahomes said.
Mahomes and the Chiefs have made an unhealthy habit of doing this, scoring three TDs in the last 6:13 in Super Bowl 54 to beat the Niners and scoring 17 fourth-quarter points to outlast the Eagles in Super Bowl 57.
The magic did not work in Super Bowl 55 as the Eagles got down and stayed down in a 22-point loss to Tom Brady and the Bucs. Even then, the team knows they are never out of the game.
“Yeah, I think you guys can appreciate it. You get to see him. What he is, I mean, there is no facade there. He comes to work every day humble, wanting to be great. Challenges the guys around him to be great every play and never flinches,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said about his star QB.
Last Sunday, there was no question in the huddle who was going to win the game once the Niners settled for a FG in OT. Chiefs WR Mecole Hardman, who caught the game-winner from Mahomes, knew exactly what was going to happen.
“How much confidence is there in the world? Whatever that is, that’s what we have in him. The man has done it time and time again. I think he has proved himself in those situations that he’s so calm under pressure, and he makes the right decisions,” said Hardman.
“He knows what to do, even when he’s running with his feet or struggling to make it in a throw. He’s one of the best I’ve seen in those pressure moments like that, and I wouldn’t rather have anyone else in those type of moments.”
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Whatever the formula, Mahomes has made it work. The next goal is a three-peat, which would seem easier if they did not trail by 10 in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 59.
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