Chiefs go back-to-back, defeat 49ers in LVIII
Tyler Brown
After capturing their third Lombardi Trophy in five seasons, the Kansas City Chiefs can officially be classified as a dynasty in the National Football League. The Chiefs were embarrassed on national TV on Christmas Day against their arch-rival, the Las Vegas Raiders and they did not lose another game after that. This Super Bowl, played in Las Vegas meant more to quarterback Patrick Mahomes because of all the adversity they endured throughout the season and no one on the outside believing this was possible 45 days ago.
“I think it means more,” Mahomes said. “To battle through that adversity and come out better on the other side, I think it prepared us for the playoffs. Obviously, we’ve had a lot of great playoff runs but this one is going to be up there because of the way we continued to battle when times weren’t great.”
The San Francisco 49ers have now been sent packing in two of those, blowing a 10-point lead in each contest. The Chiefs could not finish off the 49ers in regulation this time and instead, the two battled it out in an epic overtime, walk-off thriller. Things were looking somewhat grim for the Chiefs when San Francisco’s rookie kicker Jake Moody drilled a 53-yard field goal near the end of regulation to take a 19-16 lead.
Like many others have done facing the Chiefs in the Mahomes era, they left too much time on the clock. In the final one minute and 53 seconds left of the game, Mahomes, thanks to a huge play from Travis Kelce drove all the way down to the 49ers' 11-yard line. With six seconds left, head coach Andy Reid opted not to take another shot at the endzone. Instead, he sent kicker Harrison Butker out to kick his fourth and final field goal of the night to send it to overtime.
With a heavy dose of Christian McCaffrey, the 49ers drove right down the field after winning the toss and electing to receive the ball first. That was until the Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones applied quick pressure on 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy to force an incompletion on a third and four on the Kansas City nine-yard line. San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan then decided to send out Moody to once again extend the lead by three points.
In what was essentially a do-or-die drive, the 49ers forced the Chiefs into a fourth and one on their first set of downs. Reid called a timeout and dialed up a designed run by Mahomes that he executed to perfection for a gain of six yards. From there, the Chiefs pretty much cruised right down the field before an unsung hero caught the walk-off game-winning touchdown.
It was Mecole Hardman, who started this season as a New York Jet that caught a ball on a play that was designed similar to the “Corndog” play that became so infamous in last year's Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles. Hardman mentioned on the podium after the game that he “blacked out” after he caught the ball, but after catching it, he took it the yard or two to break the plane of the end zone to give the Chiefs the 25-22 victory.
“I have played with Mecole (Hardman) for a long time man,” Mahomes said. “He’s always ready for the moment. He’s always someone who continues to practice hard and get better. Obviously, with that receiver rotation, we were bouncing around a lot of guys all year long and those guys continued to work and just like last Super Bowl, you never know who it’s going to be. Just everybody be ready for the moment and he was ready for that moment in a couple of big plays.”
Mahomes now has three Super Bowls in six seasons as a starter and to go along with that, he now has three Super Bowl MVPs. The Chiefs received the ball coming out of halftime, and Mahomes threw an interception early in that drive, but that was just about his only blemish on the day.
This was by far his best statistical output in any of those Super Bowls thus far, as he finished 34 of 46, for 333 yards and two touchdowns. This was the most amount of yards Mahomes has thrown this season since week seven against the Los Angeles Chargers. He also led the team in rushing with 66 yards on the ground, nearly tallying 400 total yards on the day.
Once again all eyes were on Kelce also, and after finishing the first half as a non-factor, he was visibly frustrated on the sideline, even bumping into Reid. This was presumably because the Chiefs were losing at the time and Kelce was having a hard time getting involved. Butker kicked a field goal with little time left in the first half to make a 10-point deficit 10-3 and heading into the locker room Kelce had one catch for one yard to show for it.
The future Hall-of-Famer and now three-time Super Bowl Champion more than made up for it in the second half. Kelce was a chain mover throughout the entirety of the second half and overtime and wound up with 8 more caches and 92 yards while the Chiefs mounted their comeback. After not raking up a 1,000-yard season for the first time since 2015, Kelce had a historic playoff run, tallying 355 yards and 32 catches, which is the most of all time for a player 34 years or older.
“We had him called for a couple more (in the first half) and it just didn’t work out,” Reid said. “They double him early. Then we came back to him in the second half and had him rope off of people. Kind of doing combination routes. A couple were with Rashee (Rice) and with MVS (Marquez Valdez-Scantling). We know we needed to get him the ball.”
Hardman was not the only receiver to make a big play by a veteran who was outcasted by many throughout the season. For the third-straight postseason game, Marquez Valdez-Scantling stepped up when it mattered most as he was the other one on the receiving end of Mahomes' other touchdown. With the Chiefs down 10-6 late in the third quarter, Mahomes found Valdez-Scantling to give the Chiefs their first lead of the evening. That was a one-play drive that came off a punt that the 49ers fumbled with a Chiefs recovery.
Mahomes now has three Super Bowls in six seasons as a starter and to go along with that, he now has three Super Bowl MVPs. The Chiefs received the ball coming out of halftime, and Mahomes threw an interception early in that drive, but that was just about his only blemish on the day.
This was by far his best statistical output in any of those Super Bowls thus far, as he finished 34 of 46, for 333 yards and two touchdowns. This was the most amount of yards Mahomes has thrown this season since week seven against the Los Angeles Chargers. He also led the team in rushing with 66 yards on the ground, nearly tallying 400 total yards on the day.
Once again all eyes were on Kelce also, and after finishing the first half as a non-factor, he was visibly frustrated on the sideline, even bumping into Reid. This was presumably because the Chiefs were losing at the time and Kelce was having a hard time getting involved. Butker kicked a field goal with little time left in the first half to make a 10-point deficit 10-3 and heading into the locker room Kelce had one catch for one yard to show for it.
The future Hall-of-Famer and now three-time Super Bowl Champion more than made up for it in the second half. Kelce was a chain mover throughout the entirety of the second half and overtime and wound up with 8 more caches and 92 yards while the Chiefs mounted their comeback. After not raking up a 1,000-yard season for the first time since 2015, Kelce had a historic playoff run, tallying 355 yards and 32 catches, which is the most of all time for a player 34 years or older.
“We had him called for a couple more (in the first half) and it just didn’t work out,” Reid said. “They double him early. Then we came back to him in the second half and had him rope off of people. Kind of doing combination routes. A couple were with Rashee (Rice) and with MVS (Marquez Valdez-Scantling). We know we needed to get him the ball.”
Hardman was not the only receiver to make a big play by a veteran who was outcasted by many throughout the season. For the third-straight postseason game, Marquez Valdez-Scantling stepped up when it mattered most as he was the other one on the receiving end of Mahomes' other touchdown. With the Chiefs down 10-6 late in the third quarter, Mahomes found Valdez-Scantling to give the Chiefs their first lead of the evening. That was a one-play drive that came off a punt that the 49ers fumbled with a Chiefs recovery.
Purdy and the 49ers answered that with a touchdown of their own by way of wide receiver Jauan Jennings to give San Francisco a 16-13 lead. What followed that was Kansas City blocking Moody’s extra point, which proved to be essential to the Chiefs' comeback. It was that point that allowed the Chiefs to tie it at 16 and then both teams kicking their way to 19. Jennings also threw a touchdown earlier in the game on a trick play to McCaffrey which gave the 49ers the initial 10-0 lead.
Other than that extra point, there were two or three other turnovers that changed the dynamic of this game as well. On the very first drive of the game the 49ers were driving down the field before linebacker Leo Chenal forced a fumble that defensive end George Karlaftis recovered. A couple of drives later running back Isiah Pacheco spoiled a 52-yard catch by Hardman when he fumbled the ball nine yards away from the endzone.
The 49ers came in as the second offense in the NFL in terms of yards per game and while the Chiefs did not completely shut them down, they did for a lot of the middle of the game and they kept them below their season average yardage. It was McCaffrey who did the majority of the damage, as he gained 80 yards on the ground and 80 yards through the air.
The 49ers have a couple of all-pro wide receivers and a tight end in Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle and the Chiefs' defensive backs did what they did all season. Those three combined for 86 yards as a whole and that proved to be the winning formula for the Chiefs even with McCaffrey getting his.
While the Chiefs did not bring down Purdy much, he had pressure on him all night. Safety Justin Reid and Karlaftis were credited with a half sack each but the Chiefs came up with 11 quarterback hits. Karlaftis had three of those while Jones, linebacker Nick Bolton and cornerback Trent McDuffie all hit the quarterback more than once. Bolton also led the team in tackles with 13 while McDuffie was sticky in coverage all night leading the way with three pass breakups.
“All year long,” Kelce said. “All year long that defense was absolutely stellar. They’re the reason why we got to the playoffs. They’re the reason why we go through the playoffs and to the Super Bowl. And sure enough, when it mattered most, a big-time third down stop catapulted us. It gave the offense no doubt that we were going to go out there and in the game.”
Butker continued his dominance, perfectly kicking all four of his field goals and two extra-point attempts, but he also made history in Super Bowl LVIII. Butker drilled the longest field goal in Super Bowl history, converting one from 57 yards in the third quarter.
Some other offensive highlights were the performances of wide receivers Justin Watson and Rashee Rice. Watson finished with over 50 yards on the day and Rice had six catches for 39 yards, many of which moved the chains in key situations. Pacheco finished the day with 59 yards rushing to go along with 33 yards receiving on six catches. All-in-all Mahomes completed passes to eight different receivers.
Many are already considering the greatest Super Bowl run in the Mahomes era, given that this team had the worst record and struggles of the bunch and they had to go on the road twice. Their journey consisted of the six-seeded Miami Dolphins, the two-seeded Buffalo Bills on the road, the one-seeded Baltimore Ravens on the road and then the NFC’s one-seed in the 49ers. They were also underdogs in their final three games.
The Chiefs are now the first team to repeat in nearly 20 years and are the ninth team in NFL history to do so. No team in NFL history has ever three-peated, which is a feat that is already on the minds of the guys in the locker room.
“I’m going to celebrate tonight, I’m going to celebrate at the parade and then I’m going to do whatever I can to be back in this game next year,” Mahomes said. “Go for that three-peat. It’s an ongoing thing in the NFL. I think Tom (Brady) said it best. Once you win that championship, and you have those parades and you get those rings, you’re not the champ anymore. You have to come back with that same mentality.”
