Chiefs forgot everything, except how to win

They overcome a raft of mistakes to knock off San Francisco in OT and win another Super Bowl.

Mecole Hardman

Why do the same people win and the same people lose? Why does Patrick Mahomes’ opponent have a punt bounce off someone’s foot and turn into a live grenade that the Chiefs recover? Why does Patrick Mahomes’ opposing linebacker injure his Achilles tendon in the act of simply running onto the field? Were there space lasers mixed into the sideline chalk that tripped him?

And why does the team that bullied Mahomes’ team up and down Allegiant Stadium and was threatening to chew off his facemask in the first half wind up walking numbly into the locker room Sunday at Super Bowl 58, overtime losers (25-22)?

The 49ers spent much of the evening beating up both Kansas City lines. Even in overtime, after Mahomes and Kansas City had roped-a-doped their way back, the 49ers had Christian McCaffrey churning his way downfield like John Riggins against the Dolphins in the Rose Bowl, 41 years ago. Yet the Niners only managed a field goal, and the Chiefs came down and scored a touchdown, and now they have won three Super Bowls in five years, including back-to-backs.

Forget the dynasty talk. The last of those was Geno Auriema’s Connecticut Huskies. The Chiefs aren’t head-and-shoulders better than everyone else in football. It’s just that they know how to keep that head on those shoulders when all else is failing, and they do have Mahomes, who is emitting Tom Brady vibes and might someday become a legitimate lodge brother of Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods and Muhammad Ali.

Like all of them, he can be beaten. He will provide an opening. But not two. If you have him on a hook, you have to impale him. If you’ll recall, Ken Norton had Ali in a compromising position once upon a time. When he realized it, he broke Ali’s jaw. That’s what you have to do. By the way, Ali beat him in their next two fights.

Mahomes was given the chance to win because Chris Jones burst through the line and made Brock Purdy throw an incompletion on third down. That forced a field goal by Jake Moody. McCaffrey, who had earned his fatigue, and George Kittle looked like mourners on the sideline. They knew the size of the meterorite the Chiefs had dodged, and what was coming next.

Mahomes converted a fourth down, with nothing less than the outcome at stake, on an option run. He herded the Chiefs into the red zone, then sent Mecole Hardman into false motion from right to left. At the snap, Hardman reversed field, and Travis Kelce just happened to be in the way of Charavarius Ward,  Hardman’s defender. Mahomes thus could lob his way to another Super Bowl victory, with Hardman trotting alone into the end zone.

Hardman had been one of the Chiefs’ most productive, and certainly their fastest, receiver in Mahomes’ early years. He then got squeezed, and w;ent to the Jets before the season. The Jets, of course, had no idea what to do with him and sent him back to the Chiefs late this year, even though Hardman’s nickname is “Jet” for his proficiency with the jet sweep. In October of 2022, Hardman used that strategem for three touchdowns, two on passes by Mahomes, against San Francisco. On Sunday Andy Reid reached back to last year’s Super Bowl for the “corndog” play that worked so well against the Eagles for Kadarius Toney. “This time it was corndog with mustard and ketchup,” Reid said.

So it’s difficult to beat the Chiefs when the lights are up and everybody’s watching. Why, there were reports that someone flew all the way from Tokyo to see this one. But this one gave the lie to the old pregame monologue about mistakes: i.e., you can’t make them and still win.

The Chiefs barely could tie their shoes correctly in the first 35 minutes, from Isiah Pacheco fumbling after Mahomes’ long strike to Hardman, to Mahomes overshooting Kelce and throwing an interception to rookie Ji’Aiyr Brown, to Nick Bolton overrunning the gadget play that gave San Francisco its first touchdown when Jauan Jennings threw to McCaffrey, to Kelce getting targeted once and catching one ball in the first half and not being in the game on the third down play when Pacheco fumbled. Hungry for contact, Kelce bodychecked Reid on the sideline and screamed at his coach. Kelce didn’t apologize later, and several players around the league correctly speculated that a player of a different, uh, appearance might not have gotten away with such behavior.

Add that to the stark mismatch against San Francisco’s defensive line and the crying need for Pro Bowl guard Joe Thuney, who was injured, and you wondered if Kansas City was on the road to recreating some of those Denver or Buffalo faceplants of the 80s and 90s. Instead, the Chiefs got it together for a field goal drive at the end of the half and were only down, 10-3. That is where they began refusing to lose this game, which allowed Mahomes to eventually win it.

The halftime was long enough to let the Chiefs purge themselves of frustration and also build a counterattack. They would now go with man-to-man coverage and emphasize the pass rush, which meant they’d have to trust cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and L’Jarius Sneed. And they would quit asking Mahomes to set his feet for the deep balls, since Nick Bosa wasn’t allowing that. Instead Mahomes would throw to the first red shirt he saw, and let Kelce or Rashee Rice do their thing after the catch, a task that became easier when Dre Greenlaw, the 49ers’ linebacker, hurt himself so bizarrely.

Suddenly the 49ers went three-and-out on three consecutive possessions, and the Chiefs were just one break away from getting the lead. They got it when a punt bounced off Darrell Luter Jr’s foot, and Ray-Ray McCloud couldn’t jump on it before the Chiefs’ Jaylen Watson did. Mahomes then connected with Marquez Valdes-Scantling, again blotting the memory of MVS’ ham-handed season.

In the end, Kansas City was 9 for 19 on third downs, San Francisco 3 for 12, which is why Purdy blamed himself for the loss, unjustly. The most crucial blunder was from rookie kicker Moody, who was true on field goals of 55 and 52 yards but also was low on a point-after try, which was blocked by linebacker Leo Chenal (who had caused an early fumble by McCaffrey). If Moody converts that, Kansas City needs a touchdown to survive at the end of regulation. As it was, Mahomes found Kelce for 22 yards to give Harrison Butker a game-tying chip shot.

Kyle Shanahan is 0-2 in Super Bowls as a head coach and was Atlanta’s offensive coordinator when the Falcons spit up their 28-3 lead and lost to New England. He is already being skewered for choosing to begin overtime with the ball, because the Chiefs could base their strategy on whatever the Niners did. Although several 49ers said they didn’t know the new playoff overtime rules, that doesn’t mean Shanahan didn’t. This line of criticism seems picayune. What if the 49ers had scored a touchdown? Then Kansas City would have needed their own touchdown to keep it going.

No, the 49ers lost for the same reason thousands of Vegas blackjack players lose each day, and it had little to do with them. They ran into that one hard-eyed dealer, the one nobody can beat.