Patrick Mahomes’ brilliance in the 4th quarter proved to be the ultimate key for Kansas City Chiefs to bring home their first Super Bowl trophy in 50 years as they came from behind to redeem their self from a 10-point deficit against San Francisco 49ers who would slip the match form their hands to lost 31-20 in the final showdown in Miami.
Mahomes, 24 was under huge pressure and had almost missed out on the Championship. The turnaround came in the 4rth quarter with quarterback’s side 20-10 down as he managed to crack two superb throws on third down for another comeback as Kansas scored 21 straight unanswered points in 4 min and 57 seconds to clinch their first ever Lombardi Trophy.
Damien William’s second touchdown of the final quarter ramped up the very special comeback win that followed emotional scenes and celebrations in and across the pitch.
“We never lost faith. Everybody on this team, no one had their head down and we found a way to win in the end,” Mahomes, spoke in a TV interview as his teammates shone under a cloud of confetti, printed with tweets of fans, rained onto the field.
“The defense got some big stops for us and we found a way to win. Coach [Andy] Reid told me ‘keep firing, keep believing’ and he gave me a lot of confidence to go out there no matter what.
“The 49ers have an amazing defense, one of the best defenses I’ve played against so far and I’m just glad our guys kept fighting. This team has heart, coach pushes us to be the best we can be. We did it baby!”
15 Minutes of Mahomesness
The last season MVP was under pounding pressure throughout the week and was both cheered and questioned for his no-look passes and the amazing touchdown lefty pass, Mahomes found himself in a tricky situation when critiques started to compare his game with the goats of the game while also putting a question whether he can remain compose at the biggest moments and not choke.
It was a good case of questions as the youngster felt the heat during the first three quarters despite running in the game opener for Chiefs. The quarterback recorded only five interceptions during the regular season but had to pay with two in two consecutive drives as they didn’t find much to the questions put by 49ers defense which look good to get a shot at the title for record-levelling sixth time.
The Chiefs had faith in them as they had already shown resilience by incessant comebacks twice in the post season with the least lag of 10 but things didn’t look good for them as they started to smell the foul.
Things started to work in their way in the third quarter when the showman at 15 on their own 35-yeard blew a tackle to launch a 44-year saber downfield for an assist to Tyreek Hill. The ball rolled and ended up into a touchdown for Travis Kelce following another throw of Mahomes on third down; they now trailed by 3.
Chiefs conveniently blocked the 49ers on theirs turn and Mahomes once again found Williams for the score which after being reviewed was given in their favor as they for the first time grabbed the lead.
Williams thereafter, sprinted for his second to register the most memorable win for the Kansas against the Crumbling Niners that couldn’t handle the clutch.
The Significant Numbers
Kansas City Chiefs have last qualified for Super Bowl 4 on Jan 11, 1970, almost 50 years back as the pulled of the memorable comeback to get the first share of Lombardi Trophy after a wait of 5 decades.
Chiefs Coach Andy Reid has bagged his first Super Bowl after recording 22 career wins (including post-season). Only five coaches in the history of NFL have registered the more victories including post-season.
Mahomes, 24 is the second youngest quarterback ever to claim a Super Bowl after Ben Roethlisberger who sealed Super Bowl 40.
The 49ers won the coin toss but missed out on the victory. The last five teams to triumph on the toss also lost the Super Bowl.
Mahomes is the 3rd quarter back to win Super Bowl MVP despite throwing multiple interceptions after Terry Bradshaw (three in Super Bowl 15) and Tom Brady (2 in Super Bowl 2019).
