GLENDALE, Ariz. — Patrick Mahomes took another step toward immortality on Sunday night, this one with a limp.
Mahomes led the Chiefs to a 38-35 victory over the Eagles in Super Bowl 57, overcoming a 10-point halftime deficit and tweaking his injured right ankle. Mahomes threw two touchdown passes in the second half and led two other Kansas City scoring drives, including setting up the game-winning field goal with a 26-yard scramble.
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker made a 27-yard field goal with 8 seconds left in the game to give the Chiefs their third Lombardi Trophy and second in four years.
Butker scored the game-winner, but Mahomes was the hero.
Three days after winning his second league MVP award, the 27-year-old from Tyler, Texas won his second Super Bowl and added to his legend while winning his second Super Bowl MVP.
“He’s the MVP,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said of Mahomes. “That’s all that needs to be said. MVP. And you saw it tonight.”
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Playing on an ankle he injured three weeks ago in the divisional round of the playoffs, Mahomes re-injured the ankle just before halftime Sunday when Eagles linebacker T.J. Edwards tackled him and his ankle rolled. Mahomes limped off the field but did not miss a snap or a beat.
“It felt great until I kind of rolled it a little bit. I felt really good and then that happened, a lot of soreness going through it into halftime,” Mahomes said. “I was able to move it around and get taped up a little bit and go out there in that second half. It didn’t feel good, but I was going to leave it all out there. I’m glad it was enough for the win.”
Mahomes said he did not get a painkilling shot at halftime, but did get taped. The ankle did not appear to bother him in the second half. He led the Chiefs down the field on a touchdown drive to open the half, running the ball when he had to escape pressure.
On the game-winning drive, Mahomes ran for 26 yards and put the Chiefs into field-goal range with 2:30 left to play. With the score tied 35-35, the Chiefs then got help from Eagles cornerback James Bradberry on third down when he was penalized for holding JuJu Smith-Schuster to give the Chiefs a new set of downs and allowed them to run the clock down to the final seconds for Butker’s game-winner.
“It was holding,” Bradberry, the former Giant, said. “I tugged his jersey. I was hoping they would let it slide.”
Mahomes finished 21 of 27 passing for 182 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 44 yards. Both Mahomes and Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts put on a display. Hurts went 27 of 38 passing for 304 yards and a touchdown pass. He also ran for 70 yards and three touchdowns. Hurts did have a costly fumble that the Chiefs returned for a touchdown in the first half.
“This is tough,” Hurts said. “There’s so much to learn from. I always hold myself to a very high standard. This is something I know that will motivate me. You either win or you learn. It’s a very tough feeling to come up short.”
The Eagles dominated the first half, controlling the ball for more than 21 minutes and running 44 plays to the Chiefs’ 20.
The game then looked like it was taking a drastic turn with 1:33 remaining when Mahomes scrambled and was tackled by Edwards. As he was going down, Mahomes’ right ankle turned, the same ankle he injured three weeks ago in a win over the Jaguars. Mahomes got up limping badly and was in clear pain on the sideline.
The Eagles held a 24-14 halftime lead behind Hurts’ 246 total yards.
Chiefs players said Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce rallied the team at halftime.
“We just challenged each other to leave everything out there,” Mahomes said. “I don’t want to say we played tight in the first half but you didn’t see that same joy that we’ve played with. I wanted guys to just know that everything we worked for is for this moment. You have to enjoy this moment. You can’t let the moment overtake you. I thought the guys did that in the second half and they fought to the very end.”
On the first drive of the third quarter, Mahomes scrambled 14 yards to get the Chiefs inside the 10. Running back Isiah Pacheco scored from the 1-yard line to cut the score to 24-21.
Jake Elliott extended the K.C. lead to 27-21 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter by hitting a 33-yard field goal.
Mahomes got the ball back and marched the Chiefs 75 yards on nine plays, connecting with Smith-Schuster four times on the drive that ended with Mahomes hitting former Giant Kadarius Toney for a 5-yard touchdown and a 28-27 lead.
Toney was again a hero minutes later, returning a punt 65 yards through major traffic to the Eagles’ 5-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes connected with a wide-open Skyy Moore for a touchdown and a 35-27 Chiefs lead.
It felt like the Chiefs had taken control of the game but then Hurts responded with a 45-yard pass to DeVonta Smith, who was wide open, to get the Eagles to the 1-yard line. Hurts ran it in for his third rushing touchdown of the game and then also scored the two-point conversion to tie the game 35-35 with 5:15 remaining, setting up the final dramatic minutes.
The Chiefs have now won two Super Bowls in four years and appeared in three. Mahomes is 27 and Reid said he will return next year as coach.
They could just be getting started.
