KU’s Bill Self, an admirer of Patrick Mahomes, offers his take on Super Bowl LVIII
Kansas basketball coach (and Kansas City Chiefs fan) Bill Self can understand why the San Francisco 49ers remain slight favorites to win Super Bowl LVIII.
“San Francisco is great. They are terrific. They’ve got a good quarterback,” Self said of the Brock Purdy-led Niners, who take a 14-5 record into Sunday’s contest against the 14-6 Chiefs.
Kickoff is 5:30 p.m. (Central) at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. It will be shown live on CBS.
“From what they’ve done from a tactician and coaching standpoint, you would say there’s a reason why they are a favorite. They have done enough to show the analytics would play to them. I just think in this game you’d throw all that out. No. 15 is just cut different,” Self added.
KU’s 21st-year coach was referring to Patrick Mahomes, who while wearing jersey No. 15, has completed 70% of his passes and thrown 11 touchdowns with no interceptions this postseason.
“There are people that are not physically capable of making the same plays (as Mahomes),” Self said Wednesday on his weekly Hawk Talk radio show. “Whenever he’s lined up I don’t see how you could bet against him. I don’t. I think he’s that good and I think Andy Reid is that good. I think this is going to be another fun Sunday,” Self added.
Led by Mahomes, a 28-year-old two-time Super Bowl champion, and Reid, a two-time Super Bowl-winning coach, the Chiefs Sunday will be trying to win back-to-back Super Bowl titles for the first time since the New England Patriots (2003 and 2004).
“I like living in Lawrence, so I know who I hope wins. I believe that they will win,” Self said of the Chiefs. “Of course I don’t have any reasons why other than the fact they’ve got a No. (15) who is pretty good.”
As pointed out by The Star’s Pete Grathoff, in 17 postsreason starts during his career Mahomes has completed 422 of 626 passes (67.4%) for 4,802 yards, 39 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He has a quarterback rating of 106.3.
Mahomes also has led five game-winning drives with four fourth-quarter comebacks in the postseason. The Chiefs have a 14-3 record in games started by Mahomes in the playoffs. Before Mahomes became the starter, the Chiefs had an all-time playoff record of 9-18.
The 14 playoff victories tie Mahomes for the third-most in NFL history with Peyton Manning, Terry Bradshaw and John Elway. Joe Montana had 16 playoff wins and Tom Brady 35.
Mahomes is trying to join Brady (six), Montana (four), Bradshaw (four) and Troy Aikman (three) as the only signal-callers to win at least three Super Bowl starts.
“I just think he’s different. I think he’s Tiger Woods on a Sunday in the final round,” Self said of Texas Tech graduate Mahomes. “I don’t know if you guys (Hawk Talk attendees) really study golf. It’s amazing to me that Tiger didn’t win (during his glory years) from coming from behind. He won because had the lead and he would basically win in the fourth round because, ‘A,’ he didn’t make big mistakes, but ‘B,’ people that played with him in the final group were intimidated by playing with Tiger.
“Even the best players in the world — they were not intimidated to the point they couldn’t perform — but there’s some point in time he hits a shot and you feel you’ve got to match it or he makes a putt and you feel you’ve got to match it. There’s something going on.”
Self continued.
“I think it’s that way with Patrick. I do,” Self said. “When you play against him it’d take a very mature, experienced person to understand, ‘Don’t look at him. Don’t watch. Just do your own deal without worrying about what he does.’ Because he can do some things that make you think, ‘Now I’ve got to go out and make a play like him,’” Self added.
If Self and KU’s basketball players watch the Super Bowl, it will be in KU’s team hotel in Mahomes’ college town, Lubbock, Texas.
The Jayhawks play Baylor at 5 p.m., Saturday, at Allen Fieldhouse, then will fly to Lubbock, Texas, on Sunday for Monday’s 8 p.m. contest at Texas Tech.
