With that classic of a Super Bowl, the 2023 NFL season is now officially over. The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers provided us all with an overtime thriller to send us off into the offseason in a game we won’t soon forget.
With so much on the line, which players or coaches rose to the occasion on Sunday? Which fell apart? And whose legacy has been solidified? Here are all the winners and losers from Super Bowl 58.
Winners and Losers From Super Bowl 58
Winner | Patrick Mahomes
Patrick Mahomes has done it again. The league’s undisputed best QB continues on his GOAT trajectory with his third total Super Bowl title and has done so in back-to-back fashion.
The 2023 season may have been his most impressive feat yet as there were countless times during the season when pundits were ready to write Kansas City off — Mahomes just wouldn’t allow it to happen.
Mahomes comes through in the end like he seemingly always does. For that, he cements a legacy as one of the best QBs to ever play in the NFL, while simultaneously just beginning to scratch the surface of what he can accomplish during his career. It will take much more to get to this point, but Tom Brady and his seven Super Bowls are officially on notice.
Loser | Kyle Shanahan
An innovative coach who runs an impressive offense, uses his weapons, and gets the most out of his QBs but has struggled to seal the deal in these big games.
Kyle Shanahan’s body of work speaks for itself. He can call a game with the best of them and is deploying an offensive attack that many are trying to duplicate around the league.
MORE: Kyle Shanahan’s Legacy Defined by Super Bowl Heartbreak
However, he’s officially the only active coach in the NFL to appear in multiple Super Bowls who has yet to win one. It’s the monkey on Shanahan’s back, and with how hard it is to get back to the Super Bowl, it will surely be something that haunts him all offseason.
Winner | Andy Reid
People tend to forget just how good of a coach Andy Reid was before the Chiefs and Mahomes days, but he’s always been a successful NFL coach, going back decades at this point. Add Mahomes into the mix, and you have a lethal combination that the league has very rarely been able to stop.
There are rumblings of Reid’s retirement floating around, but when you’re fresh off a Super Bowl and have a generational quarterback, why stop now?
Reid has earned the right to do whatever he chooses, but the NFL life for the coach has never been better than it is right now.
Loser | 49ers’ Overtime Awareness
In the biggest moment of the season, as it all comes down to an extra quarter in the most important game of their lives, some 49ers players admitted to not understanding the OT rules in the Super Bowl.
Unbelievable to think about. It can fall squarely on the shoulders of Shanahan as the head coach here, deservedly so.
“I didn’t even know about the new playoff overtime rule, so it was a surprise to me,” Niners defensive lineman Arik Armstead said. “I didn’t even really know what was going on in terms of that.”
“You know what? I didn’t even realize the playoff rules were different in overtime,” FB Kyle Juszczyk said. “I assume you just want the ball to score a touchdown and win.
“I guess that’s not the case. I don’t totally know the strategy there. We hadn’t talked about it, no.”
A total blunder in preparation, and it may have cost San Francisco a Super Bowl for not being prepared.
Winner | Mecole Hardman
A man who started off the year as a forgotten piece on a sinking ship that was the New York Jets, turned into a Super Bowl hero with his game-winning touchdown on Sunday.
Mecole Hardman was originally with the Chiefs before signing with the Jets in free agency. Being traded back to his old team midseason now looks to be the best possible move for him.
KEEP READING: Mahomes and Chiefs Already Looking at Possible Three-Peat
Hardman made plays, stepped up in big moments, and in the brightest of spotlights, found a way to make the play when it mattered.
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