Warning for rest of NFL: Chiefs, Mahomes set up for dynasty
Here’s a scary proposition for non-Kansas City Chiefs fans: Patrick Mahomes may regularly repeat his Groundhog Day Super Bowl triumph.
If one of the best defenses in football can’t stop the Chiefs’ young gun, even with everything going its way, what chance does the rest of the NFL have?
Mahomes’ coronation was officially completed on a serendipitous Super Bowl Sunday as he led the Chiefs to a 31-20 come-from-behind win over the San Francisco 49ers and their relentless front seven.
The 49ers flummoxed the young star quarterback for three quarters, intercepting Mahomes twice while claiming a 20-10 lead. San Francisco didn’t just sack Mahomes four times, the vaunted defense made him look discombobulated.
Mahomes lacked a signature pass for more than three quarters. With 1 minute, 35 seconds left in the third quarter, he threw a duck to Sammy Watkins; eight plays later, a mis-timed pass to Tyreek Hill bounced off Hill’s arms and into the hands of 49ers safety Tarvarius Moore. That sequence came one drive after another botched attempt to Hill landed in the arms of San Francisco's Fred Warner.
It looked like Chiefs coach Andy Reid would be left wanting again in his bid for his first Super Bowl title. Trailing by 10 with a little more than 7 minutes left, the Chiefs had a 2.9 percent chance of victory, according to ESPN Stats & Info. But how can you be left wanting with the best young quarterback in the game?
“Coach Reid told me after both (interceptions), 'Keep firing, keep believing in your guys, keep throwing it,' ” Mahomes told FOX’s Chris Myers immediately after the game, one arm draped around his coach. “He told me to have confidence no matter what you do.”
Mahomes, the NFL MVP last season and now the youngest Super Bowl MVP, came alive in the fourth quarter. First, the third-year QB engineered a 10-play, 83-yard drive -– capped off by a 1-yard Travis Kelce touchdown reception –- that chewed up 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Next drive: Seven plays, 65 yards, 2:26 of spent clock and a Damien Williams five-yard touchdown catch. And then the Chiefs iced the game with a two-play, 42-yard drive capped by a 38-yard Williams touchdown run.
Three touchdowns, 21 points, in just over 6 1/2 minutes. Three weeks after a 24-point comeback against the Houston Texans, Mahomes and the Chiefs staged another wondrous comeback.
“They have an amazing defense, one of the best defenses I’ve gone up against in my career so far,” Mahomes told FOX's Terry Bradshaw on the podium after the game. “We weren’t executing at a high level, and when you play a defense like that, you’re not going to have success.”
The 49ers threw everything they could at Mahomes and perhaps the league’s most dangerous quick-strike offense, and they came up empty. What does that say for the rest of the league going forward?
Mahomes is just 24 years old –- and a young 24; he won’t turn 25 until Week 2 next year –- and the only thing that slowed him this season was a knee injury in Week 7.
The rest of Kansas City’s offensive core? Tight end Travis Kelce, 30; wideout Tyreek Hill, 25; wideout Mecole Hardman, 21; and running back Damien Williams, 27. The defense, once the team's Achilles heel, is solid, especially when defensive tackle Chris Jones (three deflected passes) plays. Reid, who buffed his Hall of Fame credentials with the win, ties it all together.
The Chiefs aren’t just in good position to repeat as champions, they’re on the verge of blossoming into the NFL’s next great dynasty.
Can you imagine that? After 221 wins, Reid finally gets his 222nd -– his first Super Bowl victory –- and sets himself up for another run, and another. In watching Mahomes hug his head coach after the game, you get the sense something special is brewing.
Look out, NFL.
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