Chiefs Reign Supreme; Capture Second Title In Four Years
It is time to collect the receipts. All year, it felt like the national media was sick of the Chiefs’ run of success and were looking for any reason to celebrate their assumed demise. Bart Scott of ESPN’s First Take said he “doesn’t believe the Chiefs will make the playoffs” before the start of the season. Keenan Allen, the oft-injured wideout for the Los Angeles Chargers, thought that the Chiefs would be “exposed” after trading Tyreek Hill in the offseason. The Buffalo Bills and their quarterback Josh Allen were suddenly the best team and quarterback in the league despite having won nothing during their tenure.
pic.twitter.com/i5Ta6J1QOW — Freezing Cold Takes (@OldTakesExposed) January 22, 2023
Despite the critics, the Kansas City Chiefs rolled through the regular season to a 14-3 record and the AFC’s top seed going into the playoffs. After dismissing the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Divisional Round where Patrick Mahomes suffered a high-ankle sprain, seemingly everyone was certain that the Cincinnati Bengals would be the final blow to the Chiefs’ season. The Bengals, after all, believed they were “the big dogs of the AFC” after making exactly one AFC title game appearance in over 30 hears prior to last year. Mahomes, on essentially one leg, showed everyone that Arrowhead is still his house.
GIVE @TKELCE THE MIC. (via @NFLonCBS) pic.twitter.com/K1fSPyaEkW — NFL (@NFL) January 30, 2023
Chiefs Keep Silencing Doubters In The Super Bowl
Despite the Chiefs’ defeat of the Bengals, very few prognosticators believed that Kansas City would be able to defeat the alleged juggernaut in the Philadelphia Eagles. Every one of the Fox Sports pregame crew picked Philly to take home the Lombardi, citing their defensive line depth and overall roster talent. For the first half, it seemed like they may have been right. The Eagles got out to a 24-14 halftime lead and Mahomes re-aggravated his ankle injury and gave Chiefs Kingdom a collective heart attack. That lead could have been much worse if not for Nick Bolton coming through with the best play of his career.
CHIEFS TIE IT BACK UP WITH A SCOOP AND SCORE 📺: #SBLVII on FOX 📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/d8gBDzRt2m pic.twitter.com/3uHVnyCwfW — NFL (@NFL) February 13, 2023
Despite being down double digits at half, the Chiefs did not panic. They have been in this situation several times during this unprecedented run of success so they knew exactly what needed to be done. Mahomes led a ten-play, 75-yard drive capped by a Pacheco touchdown to bring the game to within a field goal. The Chiefs defense, led by Nick Bolton and his nine tackles, followed up by holding the Eagles to a field goal on a 15-play drive to make the score 27-21. Mahomes would suddenly be getting the ball back with a chance to take the lead. The Chiefs had the Eagles right where they wanted them.
Chiefs’ Fourth Quarter Is The Time To Shine
Mahomes would calmly lead the offense to another 75-yard drive capped off by a wide-open Kadarius Toney touchdown that made the score 28-27 and gave the Chiefs their first lead of the game. The Eagles were firmly on the ropes after having the game firmly in control during the first half. Their offense only had the ball once, but now they found themselves losing in the fourth quarter. They continued digging themselves into that hole by going three and out on their drive. Then, Kadarius Toney happened again.
KADARIUS TONEY TAKES IT DOWN TO THE 5 YARD LINE. THIS GAME. 🔥🔥🔥 📺: #SBLVII on FOX 📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/d8gBDzRt2m pic.twitter.com/bFMl6VQPUA — NFL (@NFL) February 13, 2023
Dante Hall had to be smiling somewhere as Toney brought the longest punt return in Super Bowl history to the Eagles five-yard-line. Three plays later, Mahomes found a wide-open Skyy Moore for his first NFL touchdown that made the score 35-27. That score made it a 21-3 run since halftime and they were hitting on all cylinders in every facet of the game.
The Eagles were not quite done yet, however. They found what had been working for them in the first half on the ensuing drive. They leaned on their superb offensive line to march their offense downfield before taking the top off the defense. Miscommunication on the back end of the Chiefs’ secondary led to a 45-yard completion to a wide-open Davonta Smith. Hurts would get the touchdown and pick up the game-tying two-point conversion on the very next play.
The Super Bowl was tied 35-35 with five minutes left. The Chiefs would then display just how important it is to have the experience of having been there and done that. Time and time again Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes found themselves in that situation and they executed their game plan to perfection. The offense would go 13 plays for 69 yards in 5:04 to kick the game-winning field goal.
FOR. THE. LEAD. pic.twitter.com/Qqq8DefGx6 — Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 13, 2023
Chiefs Second Title Continues Building Mahomes’ Legacy
Patrick Mahomes is already in rarified air when it comes to historic quarterbacks. He has already won one Super Bowl, been to another, and has two NFL MVPs under his belt and he is only 27. This win is what 610 Sports Radio host Carrington Harrison (@cdotharrison) referred to on his afternoon program as a Jordan moment. Mahomes is now back on the G.O.A.T. track after taking home his second Super Bowl win. This campaign has to be particularly sweet considering how much adversity he and his team had to go through.
Mahomes proved yet again that he is the best quarterback walking planet Earth and the Chiefs are still the best team in the NFL. Not the Buffalo Bills. Not the Cincinnati Bengals. Not the Philadelphia Eagles. It is the Kansas City Chiefs. 2022 was allegedly a rebuilding year because Brett Veach traded away Tyreek Hill for a haul of draft picks. Now, Veach can use those draft picks to further enhance an already young and talented roster. It will be interesting to see what hot takes the national media has about next year’s team, but you already know the Chiefs do their talking on the field.
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