We thought we might never see another quarterback like Tom Brady. We were wrong.
You couldn’t have been surprised. You knew he would create an amazing moment. That’s exactly what Patrick Mahomes did in Super Bowl LVIII. On Sunday evening at Allegiant Stadium, he engineered another comeback in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 25-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
You didn’t expect anything less, did you? Now THAT would have been a surprise.
The 49ers 10-3 halftime lead would not last. Their defensive line did a great job shadowing him for most of the game, but we are talking about the baby GOAT here. He was going to figure it out.
The Chiefs quarterback did just that when he threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling to give his team a 13-10 lead after the Chiefs got the ball back on a muffed punt that Jaylen Watson recovered. The football hit the foot of 49ers defensive back Darrell Luter Jr., and the Chiefs got a second chance after Mahomes went three-and-out. That gaffe proved to be costly for the 49ers.
After the 49ers took a 16-13 lead, Mahomes engineered a 12-play, 69-yard drive, including a 16-yard first down pass, a 13-yard pass to Travis Kelce, and a couple of Isiah Pacheco first downs that set up Harrison Butker’s game-tying field goal. Then after Jake Moody kicked a 53-yard field goal to give the 49ers a 19-16 lead, it was Mahomes again who executed an 11-play, 64-yard drive, which included a 12-yard first-down pass to Noah Gray, a 7-yard first-down throw to Jerick McKinnon, a 3-yard scramble, and a 22-yard pass to Kelce that set up Butker to tie the game with a field goal and put the game into overtime.
Mahomes knew exactly what to do in that final drive in regulation. He did not play hero ball. Instead, he managed the clock by completing dink-and-dunk passes, running the ball, and throwing it away when needed. What’s more, Mahomes showed so much poise orchestrating that drive, an ability that comes from innate capacity plus being there before in a game of this magnitude.
Now, the stage was set for him to be “the guy” in overtime. With the 49ers holding on to a 22-19 lead and needing just one more stop to win the game, it was Mahomes who made it happen, coming up with an answer three times in that drive. On fourth-and-1, it appeared the 49ers had Mahomes where they wanted him — until they didn’t. He escaped the sack and then ran for eight yards for a first down. Then, on third-and-6, he did it again with a throw to postseason sensation Rashee Rice for 13 yards. On third-and-1, he scrambled up the middle for 19 yards. Wow!
The finishing plays came with Pacheco running for three yards and Mahomes throwing a seven-yard pass to (guess who?) Kelce. Ex-Jet Mecole Hardman finished it off by catching a short pass for the win.
Game. Set. Match.
It was fitting that Mahomes won the Super Bowl MVP. You can make a case for Chris Jones because of his yeoman work on defense all night, but quarterbacks tend to take those awards home more often than not. One reason is that Mahomes made it look so easy out there. He figured the 49ers out because that’s what he does. Sure, we can rip the 49ers for choking or savage 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan for squandering a lead. But doing either would be doing Mahomes a disservice. What happened Sunday is about more than the 49ers and Shanahan. We are talking greatness here, and only the great ones pull off a performance like Mahomes did in Las Vegas.
There’s a reason he has won three Super Bowl MVPs in what will definitely be a Hall of Fame career. Now, the stage is set for winning three Super Bowls in a row, a challenge he’ll relish.
It’s easy to root for Mahomes, a nice guy who does everything in class without being arrogant. That’s so refreshing. It doesn’t get old when he wins championships because Mahomes oozes greatness and is electrifying on the field.
On the flip side, Mahomes is a human roadblock for Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, C.J. Stroud, Brock Purdy, and the other quarterbacks searching for a championship. Think back to when Michael Jordan denied Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Clyde Drexler, John Stockton, and Karl Malone of the same quest. Today, we’re seeing the same dynamic with #15.
We thought we might never see another quarterback like Tom Brady. We were wrong. That’s what makes Mahomes special.
