Chiefs top 49ers in OT to win 3rd Super Bowl in 5 years

Six months ago, Patrick Mahomes was reluctant to call the Kansas City Chiefs a dynasty because they hadn’t won three Super Bowls together. He doesn’t have to worry about that anymore.

Mahomes found Mecole Hardman in the end zone for the game-winning touchdown in overtime to help the Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium.

It’s the Chiefs’ second straight Super Bowl title and third championship victory in the last five seasons. They’re the first team to win back-to-back Lombardi Trophies since the New England Patriots in 2003 and 2004.

Mahomes – who was named Super Bowl MVP for a third time – engineered an 11-play drive that resulted in a clutch 29-yard Harrison Butker field goal with three seconds left in the fourth quarter to force overtime. The 49ers’ offense had the ball first in the extra frame but couldn’t score a touchdown, settling for a 27-yard field goal.

Kansas City struggled offensively for most of Super Bowl LVIII and went to halftime down 10-3. The Mahomes-led Chiefs have trailed by double-digit points in all four of the superstar quarterback’s career Super Bowl appearances. The 28-year-old is now 3-1 in the Big Game. He lifted his first Lombardi Trophy with a 31-20 victory over the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV despite trailing by 10 in the fourth quarter.

Mahomes completed 34 of 46 pass attempts for 333 yards and two touchdowns against one interception in his latest triumph over the 49ers. He also led his team with 66 rushing yards. Travis Kelce once again was his favorite target, hauling in nine catches for 93 yards.

Hardman played the hero for the Chiefs in Las Vegas after starting the season on the New York Jets. Kansas City – which struggled offensively with wide receiver drops for most of the 2023 campaign – landed Hardman as part of an October trade. It was a reunion as the speedster began his career with K.C. and helped the team win its first two Super Bowls of the Mahomes and Andy Reid era.

Reid is only one of five head coaches with at least three Super Bowl rings. Only Bill Belichick (six trophies) and Chuck Noll (four) have won more.

Defenses dominated Super Bowl LVIII early on, with the Chiefs forcing a Christian McCaffrey fumble on the game’s first drive. The matchup’s 0-0 tie wasn’t broken until the second quarter when rookie kicker Jake Moody converted a 55-yard field goal. The kick set a Super Bowl record that only lasted minutes until Butker nailed a 57-yarder in the third quarter.

San Francisco forced a fumble of its own in the second quarter, knocking the ball out of Isiah Pacheco’s hands in the red zone to end a promising Kansas City drive.

The 49ers extended their second-quarter lead thanks to a perfectly executed trick play that featured receiver Jauan Jennings throwing a 21-yard touchdown pass to McCaffrey. Jennings became only the second wide receiver ever to throw a touchdown in the Super Bowl along with former Pittsburgh Steelers wideout Antwaan Randle El (Super Bowl XL).

The 49ers’ defense continued to have the Chiefs’ number after halftime, with rookie Ji’Ayir Brown picking off Mahomes early in the third quarter. Mahomes went 217 playoff passes without an interception before that play. However, Kansas City capitalized after San Francisco muffed a third-quarter punt. Mahomes found a wide-open Marquez Valdes-Scantling in the end zone for a touchdown to give K.C. its first lead of the night.

That didn’t last long, though, as Jennings put the Niners on top again with a 10-yard touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter. The pass-catcher joined former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles as the only players ever to record a passing and receiving touchdown in a Super Bowl.

Despite leading for most of the matchup, the Niners weren’t able to hold on. Their last Super Bowl title now dates back to the 1994 season. San Francisco has gone 0-3 in the Big Game since then.

Sunday’s defeat also marked another heartbreaking loss for coach Kyle Shanahan, who’s 0-3 in the Super Bowl. In addition to losing both Super Bowl matchups to Mahomes’ Chiefs, Shanahan was also the Atlanta Falcons’ play-caller and offensive coordinator when they blew a 28-3 lead to the Patriots in February 2017.

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