The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime in a Super Bowl unlike any other. Here’s a look at a few topics that will linger in the aftermath:
Quick Read
- Chiefs’ Dynasty Confirmed: Patrick Mahomes leads the Kansas City Chiefs to their second consecutive Super Bowl win, establishing a dynasty with three titles in five years.
- Taylor Swift’s Support: Pop star Taylor Swift, dating Travis Kelce, attends the Super Bowl, adding celebrity excitement to the event.
- Overtime Thriller: The Super Bowl in Las Vegas becomes a memorable game with a fourth-quarter comeback and an overtime victory for the Chiefs.
- Mahomes’ Leadership: Mahomes’ pivotal plays in overtime, including a touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman, secure the Chiefs’ victory.
- Dynastic Ambitions: Following their win, the Chiefs, particularly Travis Kelce, express aspirations for a three-peat.
- Historic Game: The Super Bowl stands out for its late-game drama and being only the second in history to go to overtime.
- Kelce and Reid’s Impact: Travis Kelce and coach Andy Reid play crucial roles in the Chiefs’ success, contributing to the team’s legacy.
- Celebrity Presence: The game attracts numerous stars, with Taylor Swift’s relationship with Kelce drawing particular attention.
- Future Prospects: The Chiefs’ win positions them as one of the NFL’s greatest franchises, with Mahomes halfway to Tom Brady’s championship record.
- Post-Game Celebrations: The Chiefs’ victory sets the stage for a grand celebration, with a parade planned to honor the back-to-back champions.
The Associated Press has the story:
Mahomes, Chiefs, Taylor Swift and a thrilling game at the Super Bowl
Newslooks- LAS VEGAS (AP) —
The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime in a Super Bowl unlike any other. Here’s a look at a few topics that will linger in the aftermath:
Patrick Mahomes rallies the Chiefs to second straight Super Bowl title, 25-22 over 49ers in overtime
Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid have made the Kansas City Chiefs a dynasty.
They’re already thinking three-peat.
First, they had to become the first back-to-back Super Bowl champions in 19 years.
Mahomes made sure of it, leading another super comeback on the NFL’s biggest stage in America’s showcase capital.
Mahomes threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman in overtime, and the Chiefs rallied to beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 on Sunday, becoming the NFL’s ninth repeat Super Bowl champs.
With pop star Taylor Swift watching boyfriend Kelce from a suite, the Chiefs captured their third title in five years, a run that puts them among the league’s greatest franchises.
“Well, you know the goal has always been to get three,” Kelce screamed on stage after sharing a kiss with Swift. “But we couldn’t get here without getting that two, and having that target on our back all year. … How about that. We get a chance to do it three times in a row.”
The NFL’s first Super Bowl in Las Vegas was a sloppy, mistake-filled affair that was mostly boring until the back-and-forth fourth quarter and OT. It was the second of 58 Super Bowls to be tied after regulation, and the first played under new overtime rules that ensured both teams got the ball.
The Chiefs (15-6) trailed 22-19 after Jake Moody kicked a 27-yard field goal on the first possession of overtime, but Mahomes rallied the Chiefs, completing another impressive comeback in a rematch of the Super Bowl four years ago.
Mahomes ran 8 yards on fourth-and-1 to keep the Chiefs’ chances alive and then scrambled 19 yards to set up the winning score, which came 14:57 into the extra period — just before what would have been the second OT.
“With all the adversity we’ve been through this season to come through tonight. … I’m proud of the guys,” said Mahomes, who earned his third Super Bowl MVP award. “This is awesome. Legendary.”
After he connected with a wide-open Hardman, the Chiefs ran on the field as red-and-yellow confetti fell onto the turf.
Mahomes and Reid are now halfway to Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, who won six championships in 20 years together with the New England Patriots and were the most recent team to go back-to-back following the 2003-04 seasons.
The 28-year-old Mahomes becomes the fourth starting QB to win three Super Bowls — joining Brady, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw and Troy Aikman — and second-youngest.
“I am going to celebrate tonight, celebrate at the parade and then work my way to get back in this game next year,” Mahomes said. “I am going to do whatever I can to be back in this game next year. Three-peat.”
The most excitement in the first half came when a frustrated Kelce bumped Reid on the sideline, knocking the Chiefs’ 65-year-old coach a few steps back after teammate Isiah Pacheco fumbled inside the red zone during the second quarter.
“You guys saw that?” Kelce said. “I’m going to keep it between us unless my ‘mic’d up’ tells the world. I was just telling him how much I loved him.”
The action picked up after a crucial blunder by San Francisco’s special teams set up Mahomes’ 16-yard TD pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a 13-10 lead.
Brock Purdy and the 49ers (14-6) answered but they couldn’t make enough plays, denying Mr. Irrelevant an opportunity to go from last pick in the 2022 NFL draft to Super Bowl champion.
“We have the offense to score touchdowns and I failed to put the team in position to do that,” Purdy said.
Niners wide receiver Jauan Jennings threw a TD pass and caught one, joining Eagles quarterback Nick Foles six years ago as the only players to do both in the Super Bowl.
After Moody’s 53-yard field goal gave the Niners a 19-16 lead with 1:53 remaining, Mahomes and Kelce went to work. Mahomes connected with Kelce for a 22-yard gain to set up Harrison Butker’s tying kick, a 29-yarder with 3 seconds left.
A holding call on Kansas City’s Trent McDuffie extended San Francisco’s opening drive of overtime and Purdy made key throws to drive the 49ers to the Chiefs 9. But San Francisco settled for a field goal.
Purdy, Christian McCaffrey and the Niners jumped ahead 10-0, but that’s no big deal for Mahomes and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. They’ve trailed by 10 points in all three of their victories, including last year’s 38-35 win over Philadelphia.
Mahomes wasn’t at his best early and threw an interception. But with the game on the line, he was a magician once again. He finished 34 of 46 for 333 yards and two TDs.
The Chiefs were hardly dominant during the regular season and entered the playoffs as the AFC’s No. 3 seed. They won at Buffalo and at Baltimore in the postseason — the first road playoff games of Mahomes’ career — and entered the Super Bowl as 2 1/2-point underdogs, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
“The Kansas City Chiefs are never underdogs. Just know that,” Mahomes said.
They became the first team to win consecutive Super Bowls as underdogs; the Philadelphia Eagles were slight favorites a year ago.
The game turned when San Francisco’s Ray-Ray McCloud couldn’t scoop a punt that hit teammate Darrell Luter Jr.’s leg and the Chiefs recovered at the 49ers 16, leading to Mahomes’ go-ahead TD pass to Valdes-Scantling.
The Niners answered on the next possession with Purdy tossing a 10-yard TD pass to Jennings for a 16-13 lead. Moody’s extra point was blocked.
Niners coach Kyle Shanahan gambled on fourth-and-3 from the Chiefs 15, passing up a chance for a tying field goal. Purdy hit George Kittle for a 4-yard gain and then found Jennings for the score.
Shanahan resorted to trickery for the only touchdown of the first half.
Jennings, a wide receiver who had never thrown a pass in an NFL game, tossed a 21-yard TD to McCaffrey. He was hit as he threw a wobbly pass across the field, but McCaffrey snagged it and sprinted to the end zone.
Shanahan fell to 0-2 as a head coach in Super Bowls and 0-3 overall, including a loss when he was offensive coordinator for Atlanta. That was the game in which Brady and the Patriots rallied from a 28-3 deficit to win in OT.
“When you go against guys like Tom Brady and Pat Mahomes, you never feel comfortable with a lead. Those guys are two of the best to ever play the game,” Shanahan said.
There were plenty of stars in the building as the NFL brought its biggest game to this gambling mecca — once a taboo idea. Jay-Z, LeBron James and Paul McCartney were among the celebrities in the crowd.
Post Malone sang “America the Beautiful,” Reba McEntire performed the national anthem and Usher electrified the crowd at halftime. He brought out a number of guests, including Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Jermaine Dupri, Lil Jon and Ludacris.
Attendance was announced at 61,629 at the relatively compact Allegiant Stadium, the smallest crowd in Super Bowl history except for the pandemic game in Tampa, Florida, three years ago.
It didn’t start out well, but thanks to Mahomes, those fans ended up seeing one of the best Super Bowl finishes.
Fans will get to celebrate the Chiefs on Wednesday, Valentine’s Day. The Kansas City Sports Commission released the official route and timing late Sunday night, KMBC-TV reported. The parade will begin at 11 a.m.
BEST SUPER BOWL EVER?
This Super Bowl will likely go down as one of the most memorable, given Taylor Swift’s involvement and the fact that it was in Las Vegas for the first time. Throw in Kansas City winning back-to-back titles — a rare accomplishment — and Patrick Mahomes’ late brilliance, and it was a classic.
But it wasn’t the most well-played game, with both teams losing big turnovers and neither offense really doing much until the end, when fatigue might have been a factor.
BEST TEAM EVER?
It’s in play now for the Chiefs, who have reached four Super Bowls in five years and won three of them. Now they’ll go for something nobody — not Joe Montana’s 49ers or Tom Brady’s Patriots — has done. Kansas City can win a third consecutive Super Bowl.
That might seem unlikely, but so did this championship for most of the season. The Chiefs went the whole second half of the AFC championship game and the whole first half of the Super Bowl without a touchdown. If they could manage to win it all anyway, what does it take to beat them?
“Battling through the adversity that we went through this year, and the guys staying with the process, keeping believing,” Mahomes said. “You never know how it’s going to happen, and to be able to go play three great teams to get to this game and play another great team, and win all those games, it was a true road in the playoffs, and we were able to come through and be Super Bowl champs.”
BEST QB EVER?
Mahomes has a while to go before he can match Tom Brady’s longevity and career accomplishments, but he may have an even better resume than the New England quarterback did at the same age. Mahomes has three Super Bowl titles at age 28, and was the MVP in each of those wins. When he was 28, Brady had won three Super Bowls and been MVP for two.
But at that age, Brady hadn’t won any regular-season MVPs, and Mahomes already has two.
BEST CELEBRITY FAN EVER?
Taylor Swift’s fiercest loyalists might claim that she was the good luck charm that brought Kansas City another championship. Even if you’re not buying that, there’s no denying that her relationship with Travis Kelce added some buzz to what was a fairly drab regular season for the Chiefs.
Then they went on their postseason run, culminating in an almost perfect storm of sports and pop culture intersecting at the Super Bowl. Maybe Kelce and Swift will be back at the Super Bowl next year too, but the NFL and Chiefs fans shouldn’t take for granted the sequence of events that unfolded over the past few months.
BEST HOST CITY EVER?
Now we’re definitely in the realm of the subjective, but the first Super Bowl in Las Vegas was a hit among many fans — some of whom came to town even if they weren’t sure they’d be able to get into the game.
The demand for tickets made it clear how popular a site this was. And as sports leagues embrace Las Vegas more and more, it’s a question of when, not if, more events like this come to town.
CRUSHING LOSS
The 49ers were about as close to a championship as you can be without winning it, and coach Kyle Shanahan is still chasing a title after losing another Super Bowl. He’s been on the wrong end of the only two Super Bowls to go to overtime — this one and Super Bowl 51, which he lost as an offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons.
Shanahan is one of the game’s most influential offensive minds, but this wasn’t one of his masterpieces. The 49ers got 160 total yards from Christian McCaffrey, but two touchdowns and three field goals wasn’t enough for San Francisco to win. And Shanahan’s decision to take the ball first in overtime raised some eyebrows.
Meanwhile, Kansas City’s Andy Reid won his third Super Bowl title.
HIS FINEST HOUR?
What a career defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has put together. When he was with the 2007 New York Giants, he helped take down previously unbeaten New England in the Super Bowl. Now he’s won three titles with the Chiefs.
With Mahomes and the offense no longer lighting up opposing secondaries like in the past, the pressure was on Spagnuolo’s defense. It delivered, holding Lamar Jackson and Baltimore to 10 points in the AFC championship game and then keeping Kansas City in it against the 49ers until the offense got rolling late.
USHER SHINES
There was talk about whether Usher’s halftime show might be overshadowed by Swift’s presence in the crowd, but he delivered a set with several highlights, including appearances by Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Jermaine Dupri, Lil Jon and Ludacris.
BRIGHT FUTURE
MVP Lamar Jackson may have taken home the biggest prize at NFL Honors this week, but the Houston Texans look like a team to watch going forward. They swept the Rookie of the Year awards for offense and defense with quarterback C.J. Stroud and defensive lineman Will Anderson Jr.
