Super Bowl Magic: Mahomes, Chiefs Eagles win 38-35

By ROB MAADDI

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes was a wizard when the Kansas City Chiefs needed him to lead another Super Bowl comeback.

Playing on an injured leg in the fourth quarter, Mahomes threw two touchdown passes and ran for 26 yards before Harrison Butker hit a 27-yard field goal with 8 seconds left to give the Chiefs a 38-35 win. Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.

The Chiefs won their second NFL title in four years and two-time NFL MVP Mahomes won his second Super Bowl MVP award.

“I thought the guys embraced the moment,” Mahomes said of rallying from a 10-point break. “In that first half, we were playing and doing some good things, but I felt like the guys were consuming everything around us.”

Mahomes and Jalen Hurts dominated in their first Super Bowl Black’s two starting QBs. But Mahomes turned it around in the second half after re-aggravating his right ankle.

“It took everything to win the game,” Mahomes said as red and yellow confetti sprinkled the field.

Coach Andy Reid, who failed to win the big game in Philadelphia, beat his former team and earned his second ring with Mahomes and the Chiefs.

“We wanted it to go really bad for him,” Travis Kelce said. “His legacy will live on in Philly forever. … It takes a lot of pride to know that he’s had success in two different organizations, but this was better.”

With the score tied 35-35, the Eagles tried to give the Chiefs a chance to punt with two minutes left so they could get the ball after a defensive call on cornerback James Bradberry gave Kansas City a third-and-8. first down. But Jerick McKinnon fumbled at the 2, forcing the Eagles to use their final timeout.

“It held up. I pulled his shirt off. I was hoping they’d let it slide,” Bradberry said.

After Mahomes took a knee twice, Butker threw his shot and sent thousands of redshirted Chiefs fans into a frenzy.

“Just seeing the confetti is amazing,” said Butker, who missed 42 yards in the first quarter. “I tried to focus on one shot and focus on the process.”

The Chiefs won their second Super Bowl after the 2019 season, 50 years after their first. Mahomes led them back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter against San Francisco. It took only three years to get another pawn.

The Chiefs fans were outnumbered in the stadium, but did their part to silence the raucous Philly fans with the Tomahawk chant.

Trailing 24-14 with Mahomes limping, the Chiefs (17-3) followed up Rihanna’s dominant afternoon performance with a thrilling offensive attack.

Mahomes, who had a high bone in the divisional round, hurt it again on a 3-yarder late in the second quarter. He limped off the field, but didn’t affect Kansas City’s next possession.

“I knew it was bad enough when he limped up, but I knew it wasn’t going to be bad enough for him to drag himself off the field,” offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemi said. “If we took him away, I would have to fight him. He would probably fight me. And so it wasn’t worth entertaining.”

Mahomes slipped – several players lost their footing on natural grass – in the pocket, but somehow regained his balance and rushed 14 yards to the Eagles 4, setting up Isiah Pacheco’s 1-yard run that cut the deficit to 24-21.

Mahomes then threw a 5-yard TD pass to wideout Kadarius Toney to give Kansas City its first lead, 28-27, early in the fourth quarter.

After the Chiefs tightened their defense and forced Philly to punt, Toney returned a punt 65 yards to the Eagles 5 for the longest punt return in Super Bowl history.

On third down from the 4, Mahomes connected with Skye Moore to extend the lead to 35-27. Moore was also open in the play.

But the eagles would not go.

Hurts hit DeVonta Smith for a 45-yard gain to the Chiefs 2 and ran for the third score of the game. He also ran for a 2-point conversion to tie it at 35-35 with 5:15 left.

As “Flight! Eagles! Flight!” echoed throughout the stadium, Mahomes and the Chiefs went back to work.

Mahomes, 27, became the third player to win a second NFL MVP award before the age of 28. He also became the youngest QB to start three Super Bowls. Mahomes finally broke the MVP curse and became the first player to win a Super Bowl in the same season after losing nine in a row.

Just five years after winning the first Super Bowl in franchise history, the Eagles (16-4) are closing in on a different coach and a new quarterback. Nick Sirianni replaced Doug Pederson in 2021, and Hurts signed Carson Wentz at the end of 2020.

Hurts set a Super Bowl record with 70 yards rushing and three scores. He also threw for 304 yards and one TD.

“We use this pain, we use this failure to motivate us so we can make it stronger,” Sirianni said.

Hurts, who missed two games late in the season with a shoulder injury, had first-half TD runs of 1 and 4 yards and a 45-yard TD pass to AJ Brown.

But Hurts also made a rare mistake when he walked away from the pressure without a hit. Nick Bolton picked it up and ran 36 yards to make it 14-14. Hurts had just eight turnovers, six picks and two fumbles this season.

Mahomes completed 21 of 27 for 182 yards with three TDs and no turnovers. He ran 44 meters.

Mahomes connected with Kelce on an 18-yard TD pass in the right corner to tie it 7-7 in the first quarter. Chiefs’ All-Pro tight end and Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce became the first set of brothers to play against each other in the Super Bowl.

Their mother, Donna Kels, wore a half-red, half-green jersey with #87 on the front for Travis and #62 on the back for Jason. He sat in a suite between NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Damar Hamlin.

The fans of “Ukobho” turned the state farm stadium into a sea of ​​green and chanted “UKOFHO!” they said and after each point the team’s fight song. But they were disappointed.

In 14 seasons with the Eagles, Reed won more games than any coach in team history, but one knock against him was that he couldn’t win the big game. Reed finally got his ring in his seventh season with the Chiefs. They came back the next year and lost to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Reid, who turns 65 next month, has put to rest any speculation about his potential retirement.

“If they’ll have me, I’ll stay,” he said.

The first Super Bowl featuring both No. 1 seeds since the Eagles beat the Patriots 41-33 in February 2018 lived up to their hype. It was the third-highest scoring Super Bowl and the Eagles scored the most points by a losing team.