Well, there are no illusions now. Patrick Mahomes won it on a bum ankle. He won it coming from behind.
He won on another Super Bowl stage where he wasn’t always the better quarterback until he was the best again at closing time.
Do you get the feeling we’ll be watching this again and again for the next decade?
Everyone entered this season saying Mahomes would miss receiver Tyreek Hill, who became the Miami Dolphins’ Most Valuable Player.
Everyone was right, too. Mahomes did miss Hill. Just like Tom Brady missed Troy Brown, Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski and Bill Belichick.
Brady kept winning with new and sometimes lesser parts just like Mahomes won the Super Bowl again Sunday. Mahomes is 27. He’s in a game that protects quarterbacks. He’s in an organization that makes winning decisions. He’s on a team that got younger and kept winning.
Here’s something amazing to think about: In the past five years with Mahomes as starter, Kansas City hasn’t played a playoff game on the road. Fourteen games. None before an away crowd.
Kansas City has advanced to three Super Bowls and won two in the past four years. Is there any reason the next five won’t be a repeat of that, considering this franchise’s track record and Mahomes’ talent?
It’s arrogant to think this is the Dolphins’ big roadblock. There are a series of them before even getting to him. Just look across the AFC’s quarterbacks. Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow. Buffalo’s Josh Allen. There’s a list of players showing versatility and durability even as Aaron Rodgers toys with joining the New York Jets.
Philadelphia was the better team Sunday, just like Cincinnati was against Kansas City in the AFC Championship game and San Francisco was two Super Bowls ago at Hard Rock Stadium.
Philadelphia has the best offensive and defensive lines in the league, top receivers and a quarterback in Jalen Hurts who threw for more than 300 yards and ran for three touchdowns Sunday.
Hurts also lost a fumble that was returned for at touchdown. Sometimes a quarterback is judged by his worst play, not his best. Mahomes didn’t turn the ball over. He completed 21 of 27 passes for 187 yards and three touchdowns.
Mahomes had help beyond that defensive touchdown. A 65-yard punt return set up another touchdown. Coach Andy Reid designed two of the easiest touchdown passes you’ll see. (One play was called “Corndog.”)
Mahomes wasn’t asked to be great all of Sunday, just when it mattered most. It wasn’t just his arm. It was his toughness. His 26-yard run on that bum ankle was the signature play of the game.
Philadelphia hired Dolphins defensive-coordinator-in-waiting Vic Fangio to counsel them before this game. Fangio is as good a defensive mind as football has. He had experience playing Mahomes as the Denver Broncos coach the three previous years.
Fangio also is 0-6 against Mahomes (now 0-7, if you care to tack Sunday on the record). Fangio’s Denver defense sacked Mahomes three times in a 43-16 loss. It held him to a malodorous 57.2 passer rating in a 22-9 loss. It saw Mahomes get hurt on a quarterback sneak in a 30-6 loss.
What Philadelphia’s defense tried to do Sunday was anyone’s guess. It didn’t rush Mahomes. It played a soft zone. It left the lone receiving threat, Travis Kelce, open from the first possession. Let’s just say Fangio should start his introductory Dolphins news conference saying, “That Super Bowl plan wasn’t mine.”
This isn’t a Fangio issue, of course. It’s a Mahomes issue. Look at this season. Mahomes led the league in passing yards, passing touchowns, generated the most yards by any single player and was the regular-season MVP and Super Bowl MVP.
“M-V-Pat,’' Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce said after Sunday’s win.
Mahomes’ biggest challenge in chasing Brady’s seven rings might be the random nature of sports. He lost the 2018 AFC Championship when New England scored on the lone overtime possession to cause a change in overtime rules. He lost in a Super Bowl blowout two years ago against Brady and Tampa Bay 31-9.
“The first time we won [the Super Bowl], it was like a like kid winning a prize at the fair,’’ Mahomes said. “It was new and we were happy. Then we lost a couple and you see how tough it is.”
A dynasty in the making?
“I’m not going to say dynasty yet,’’ Mahomes said. “We’re not done.”
There are no illusions about him, none about Kansas City being on the edge of a dynasty. He won a second ring from behind on a bum ankle with the lesser team around him.
