Five things that stood out about Chiefs’ overtime Super Bowl victory vs. 49ers
The boos started Monday, six days before Super Bowl Sunday in Las Vegas, interrupting Patrick Mahomes mid-sentence.
He didn’t ignore it.
“We’re here,” the Chiefs quarterback said.
Still.
Like they never left.
Mahomes tossed aside three-plus frustrating quarters and propelled the Chiefs to a game-tying and game-winning drive in a 25-22 overtime win against the San Francisco 49ers in one of the most dramatic finishes in Super Bowl history.
Mecole Hardman caught a 3-yard touchdown in overtime to cap the Super Bowl LVIII victory, and therefore the Chiefs concluded this year the same place they did last year.
As champions.
They are the first repeat champs in two decades.
There will be plenty of time to access the big-picture meaning and what’s next, littered throughout The Star’s extensive postgame coverage, but for now, are are five things that stood out immediately after the game:
1. The game-winner
And you thought the Chiefs didn’t do enough to address the wide receiver position at the deadline.
Mecole Hardman to Chiefs immortality.
Three weeks ago, he was the potential scapegoat of a trip in Buffalo. On Sunday, he in terms of Chiefs playoff catches, he now owns the GOAT.
Or at least the most impactful.
It was more about the play’s execution — or its design — than anything else, which left Hardman wide open to receive a flip pass from Mahomes.
Game. Over.
Super Bowl over.
And by the way, let’s give some credit to Andy Reid for calling Hardman’s number there. There’s a reason he doesn’t give up on players, privately or publicly.
He knows he’ll need them.
2. The Mahomes Magic
Gone, poof, for three-plus quarters.
There in the biggest moment.
Excuse me: Moments. Plural.
As the nature of this season shifted — the defense taking reigns from the offense — we often wondered: Would you rather have the offense or defense on the field with the game on the line?
The answer, as always, is Mahomes.
The Chiefs offense was a disaster over the initial 3 1/2 quarters, but Patrick Mahomes was twice offered a chance to tie or the win the game with the ball in his hands.
He led the Chiefs inside the 10-yard line for a game-tying field goal in regulation, and the game-winning drive in overtime.
How fitting that he’d use his legs.
Mahomes ran for a first down on fourth down early in the drive, with the Chiefs still on their own half of the field. He’d later put them on the brink of the game-winner with a scramble up the gut of the defense.
3. The 49ers overtime mistake
The new playoff overtime rules are confusing.
I get it.
But 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan made a mistake before it even started. He elected to receive the opening kick, which allowed the Chiefs to know they had to score to keep the game alive. They went for a fourth-down on their own half of the field. Might they have punted if that was the opening possession?
The Chiefs executed the final drive knowing precisely how many points they needed — they had information the 49ers did not.
Because the 49ers chose to operate without it.
4. The defense
The best defense Andy Reid has ever had?
It did enough.
I know much will be made of the Chiefs not getting a complete stop on the final drive of the fourth quarter or a complete stop in overtime, but they twice put the ball in the hands of Patrick Mahomes and asked him to go win it
Isn’t that what you’d ask?
The first stop came with a shade under two minutes remaining. With two timeouts. And the best quarterback in the world with a chance to win it.
The second offered him all the time in the world. Again, to go win it.
They set up the winner.
And long before it. The defense is the reason the Chiefs were in the game. As the offense was struggling to figure something — anything — out offensively, the defense held the 49ers to a total of nine yards over four drives. The 49ers didn’t gain a first down on any of those four.
That’s what brought the Chiefs back.
Well, that and a couple of special teams plays.
Even the lone 49ers touchdown came after not one but two missed penalty calls — center Jake Brendel was illegally downfield, and Spencer Burford got away with a block on Nick Bolton while wide receiver Jauan Jennings’ throwback pass was in the air.
5. Travis Kelce bumps Andy Reid
All positive vibes. Well, except this.
For the initial 28 minutes, the Chiefs had run one offensive play in 49ers territory.
A bad result.
A worse reaction.
Isiah Pacheco fumbled, and almost immediately afterward, Travis Kelce bolted toward — and bumped, with his chest — head coach Andy Reid. He needed to be restrained by Jerick McKinnon as he continued to scream on the sideline.
For a player who considers himself a leader — reports had him giving the players an impassioned speech the night before the game — it’s hard to square how, exactly, that is beneficial.
A better description: Inexcusable.
It’s not as though it’s an isolated incident — it’s at least the third time this season Kelce and Reid have had some sort of run-in on the sideline during a game. The Chiefs lost the other two, by the way, home games against the Eagles and Raiders.
