Chiefs beat 49ers in OT of Super Bowl to cement dynasty status

LAS VEGAS – The NFL has a returning champion for the first time in 19 years. The Kansas City Chiefs, coming off a third Super Bowl victory in five seasons, cemented their status as the league's modern dynasty with a 25-22 overtime win against the San Francisco 49ers Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

This one, the same as the last two for Kansas City and its superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, came with an electrifying second-half comeback — and this time with some overtime heroics.

Jake Moody's 27-yard field goal on the first possession of overtime put the 49ers ahead 22-19, but the Chiefs responded with a 13-yard, 75-yard drive and won it on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to Mecole Hardman .

It was just the latest must-have move for Kansas City, a team that has built a reputation behind Mahomes for being most dangerous when they hold the ball last. The Chiefs trailed 19-16 with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter when they marched 75 yards in 11 plays and Harrison Butker kicked a 29-yard field goal. The key play on the drive came on a third-and-7 with 16 seconds left, when Mahomes hit Travis Kelce on a crosser for a 22-yard gain that set the Chiefs up for the easy kick.

It is the fourth Super Bowl victory for the Chiefs franchise and the third for the team under coach Andy Reid, who is tied for third all-time with Bill Walsh and Joe Gibbs. Only Bill Belichick (six) and Chuck Noll (four) have more.

“Number three is a big number in terms of dynasties,” Kelce said this week, adding that he wanted to win this Super Bowl more than the previous three he had played in. Winning three titles in a five-year span puts the Chiefs in a different conversation, one that features some of the greatest runs in league history.

Mahomes earned his third Super Bowl MVP going 34 of 46 passing for 333 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, resulting in a passer rating of 99.3. He joins Tom Brady (five) and Joe Montana (three) as the only players to win three Super Bowl MVP awards.

The championship also elevates Mahomes – a remarkable 15-3 in the playoffs in his six-year career – to elite company: He is now one of five quarterbacks in league history to win at least three Super Bowls, joining Brady ( seven), Montana (four), Terry Bradshaw (four) and Troy Aikman (three). Aikman and Mahomes, 28, are the only ones to win three before their 30th birthday. Over the past two postseasons, Mahomes is 7-0 with thirteen touchdowns and just one interception.

When CBS announcer Jim Nantz talked on the postgame stage about how the Chiefs were underdogs in the final three games of this postseason, Mahomes said, “Just know that the Kansas City Chiefs are never underdogs. Just know that.”

Kelce added: “We couldn't have gotten here without having that target on our backs all year. Now we had the chance to do it three times in a row.”

It's a devastating loss for the 49ers, especially for coach Kyle Shanahan, who adds another chapter of Super Bowl heartache to what would otherwise have been a stellar career. As Atlanta's offensive coordinator in 2017, Shanahan was on the wrong end of the largest lead in Super Bowl history, as the Patriots rallied from a 28-3 third-quarter deficit to stun the Falcons in the only other championship game that led to an extension. . Sunday's loss is Shanahan's second as a head coach in the Super Bowl; four years ago, the 49ers blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV and ultimately lost 31-20.

San Francisco's championship drought now stands at 29 seasons. After winning five Lombardi Trophies within a 13-year span from 1982 to 1995, the 49ers have since (after the 2012, 2019 and 2023 seasons) lost in all three of their trips to the Super Bowl.

Before this year's Chiefs, the last Super Bowl champion to successfully defend its title was the 2004 Patriots. What had become routine in the early decades of the Super Bowl era—there were eight repeat winners in the game's first 39 editions—became nonexistent, a byproduct of the league's increased parity and an indication of just how taxing the Super Bowl is. can.

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The title caps a stunning late-season surge for Kansas City, which had its worst regular season since Mahomes became the starter in 2018. Plagued by an uncharacteristically inconsistent offense, including a league-worst 44 point turnover by receivers, the Chiefs were just 9-6 after losing to the Raiders at home on Christmas Day. It looked bad enough that Kansas City general manager Brett Veach wondered if his team would even make the postseason.

“You see it every year,” Veach said this week, “a team gets off to a good start and doesn't make the playoffs.”

But the Chiefs wouldn't lose again all year, finishing the regular season with a pair of wins before reeling off four straight wins in the playoffs. What started in frigid temperatures in Kansas City, a wild-card victory over the Dolphins in the fourth-coldest game in NFL history, continued with two gutsy road wins in Buffalo and Baltimore – the first real wins in the Mahomes' playoff career. culminated with Sunday's comeback in Las Vegas.

It's the most unlikely title of the Chiefs' current run, not only because of their regular-season struggles, but also because of the intense spotlight that has trailed the team for most of the year. Kelce's relationship with pop superstar Taylor Swift became a phenomenon of its own, and her performances during the regular season and the playoffs (she made all four during Kansas City's postseason run, including Sunday's Super Bowl after a Saturday show in Tokyo ) became one of the biggest stories in sports.

When asked what he's learned in recent months about celebrity crushes, Kelce smiled and said in the week leading up to the competition, “That being famous worldwide is a lot different than being famous in Kansas City.”

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On Sunday, the 49ers controlled the first half by owning the trenches, especially when the Chiefs had the ball. San Francisco's punishing defensive line continually allowed Mahomes to scramble out of the pocket, sacking him twice and frequently forcing rushed throws. The Chiefs' offense, in turn, was never in sync, managing only a late field goal to cut San Francisco's 10-0 lead.

The Chiefs finished with just 16 yards in the first quarter – compared to 125 for San Francisco – and couldn't get Kelce involved. Kelce caught an early one-yard bubble screen, his only target through the first 30 minutes of the game.

After kicker Moody drilled the longest field goal in Super Bowl history — a 55-yarder in the first quarter — the 49ers scored the game's first touchdown with 4:23 left in the second quarter when Jauan Jennings widened the play came, on a throw from Purdy, hit McCaffrey for a 21-yard catch-and-run score. It was a brave and creative play call from Shanahan and the first touchdown pass of Jennings' three-year career.

San Francisco led 10-3 at halftime and caused frustration for Kansas City. CBS cameras recorded Kelce encountering Reid on the sideline during a tense altercation.

Their chances didn't look any more promising after the opening drive of the third quarter, when Mahomes threw his first interception of the last two postseasons.

But the game changed after a crucial mistake by the 49ers in the third quarter when returner Darrell Luter Jr. fumbled a punt on San Francisco's 35-yard line. The Chiefs' Jaylen Watson recovered and it took Mahomes one play to capitalize: He hit receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling moments later for a 16-yard touchdown.

Suddenly, after playing the entire game, the Chiefs were in front. History repeated itself.

Jennings caught the 49ers' second touchdown of the night with 11:22 left early in the fourth quarter, but after a blocked extra point the Chiefs were able to tie the game on an ensuing field goal that capped a 12-play, 69-yard game closed. drive before winning it in overtime.

Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said during the Lombardi Trophy presentation, “One of the most exciting Super Bowls I've ever seen.”

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(Photo: Harry Hoe/Getty Images)