The Return of Chiefs Kingdom: Kansas City completes epic comeback to win Super Bowl LIV

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Kyle McKee, Sports Editor

Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida was the site of the NFL’s biggest game.

After a wild regular season and thrilling postseason, over 100 million people tuned in to watch the most anticipated sporting event of the year.

Most viewers watch the Super Bowl not for the game itself, but for the famous commercials and the headline-worthy halftime show that feature world-renowed music artists.

But this particular Super Bowl featured two of the league’s most prominent teams that made the game itself the highlight of the night.

Super Bowl LIV featured the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, two of the league’s most prominent, up-and-coming teams.

The Chiefs were looking to snap a half-century long streak, as they have not hoisted the Lombardi Trophy since Super Bowl IV, when they trounced the Minnesota Vikings to take home the title.

The 49ers were looking to snap a quarter-century drought, as they last won football’s ultimate prize since axing the San Diego Chargers 49-26 in Super Bowl XXIX, also in Miami, Florida.

San Francisco was also looking to tie the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers with the most Super Bowls, with six.

The Chiefs defeated the 49ers 31-20 in what was an exceptional game.

Through the first three quarters, the 49ers controlled the game with their incredible pass rush and running game.

The 49ers defense, headlined by rookie sensation Nick Bosa and legendary defensive back Richard Sherman, had Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense rattled through the first 45 minutes.

San Francisco forced two interceptions from Mahomes, the first two interceptions in his young postseason career, and two fumbles that Kansas City were fortunate enough to recover.

Additionally, the 49ers pass rush sacked Mahomes four times and managed to get some serious hits on the young quarterback throughout the game.

With all that said, the Chiefs started looking dreadful late in the fourth quarter until Mahomes caught fire and led the Chiefs to an epic comeback.

Down 10 with less than 10 minutes to go in the final frame, the Chiefs’ chances of winning looked dim, especially with the 49ers defense looking so tremendous, holding the high-scoring Chiefs offense to 10 points up to that point.

However, Chiefs fans thought that with Mahomes, anything is possible.

With a little over seven minutes remaining in the game, and San Francisco holding a 20-10 lead, the Chiefs were looking at a long third down on their own 35 yard line.

On the play, Mahomes took a seven step drop back, received exceptional blocking from the offensive line, and threw a 44-yard bomb to Tyreek Hill who was tackled on the 49ers 21-yard line.

Before the play, it seemed that if the Chiefs did not get that first down, the game was over because of the 49ers’ ability to run down the clock with their powerful running game.

The Chiefs capped off that drive with a touchdown pass to tight end Travis Kelce, making the score 20-17.

The Chiefs defense, led by defensive end Frank Clark and safety Tyrann Mathieu, came up big and forced San Francisco to punt on the following drive, giving the ball back to Mahomes and the Chiefs, with a little over five minutes left in the quarter.

Mahomes marched the Chiefs right down the field, capping off the drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Damien Williams with 2:45 remaining in the game.

The extra point gave the Chiefs a 24-20 lead, forcing the 49ers to score a touchdown to win the game.

However, all hope was not lost because the 49ers still had all three of their timeouts left, and 2:45 in football is a lot of time.

San Francisco started marching down the field with two first downs, a 17-yard run by Raheem Mostert and a 16 yard completion to Kendrick Bourne.

Two plays later, Emmaunel Sanders beat his man and the safety down the field and was open for a deep ball that could have won the game, but Jimmy Garoppolo overthrew Sanders and the pass was incomplete.

On the very next play, 4th down and 10 yards to gain, Garoppolo was sacked and San Francisco turned the ball over on downs. Two plays later, Damien Williams ran 38 yards into the end zone, making the score 31-20 and sealing the Chiefs’ long-awaited Super Bowl victory.

The Chiefs scored 21 unanswered points to close out the game, all in the fourth quarter.

The Chiefs became the first team in NFL history to erase double-digit deficits in three consecutive postseason games to win a championship.

In the divisional round, the Chiefs trailed 24-0 to the Houston Texans in the second quarter, took the lead before halftime, and won the game by 20 points, 51-31.

In the conference championship round against the Tennessee Titans, the Chiefs were down 17-7 in the second quarter, yet, came back and won the game by 11 points, 35-24.

Three straight comeback wins is quite the remarkable feat for head coach Andy Reid and the Chiefs.

Speaking of Reid, no one was more deserving of a Super Bowl as a head coach than him, as he spent over two decades coming up just short of that elusive title he desperately coveted.

His closest chance at a title before this one came when he was still the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, when they lost Super Bowl XXXIX to the New England Patriots 24-21. But in his 21st year as an NFL head coach, Reid finally claimed the Lombardi Trophy, stripping the “choke” label of his legacy that can no longer be viewed as one. Reid is seen by many as an incredible football coach.

In fact, if someone were to conduct a poll of the best coaches in football since the turn of the century, Reid would most likely be second, right after none other than Bill Belichick, the head coach that beat him in that incredible Super Bowl XXXIX battle, as well as last season’s thrilling AFC Championship Game.

Reid is destined for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and this Super Bowl just cements his legacy even more.

The Chiefs are now set up to have a dynasty of their own.

They have a Hall of Fame coach at the helm and a generational superstar quarterback in Mahomes.

In his first two years as a starting quarterback, Mahomes has won two division titles, reached two AFC Championship games, won league MVP, a Super Bowl title and Super Bowl MVP, and he is only getting started.

In fact, if it were not for a late offside penalty on the Chiefs defense in last year’s AFC Championship against the Patriots, the Chiefs could easily be back-to-back champions and Mahomes could have two Super Bowl MVPs.

Mahomes is 24 years old and at that age, not only is he the youngest league MVP in NFL history, but also the youngest quarterback, and third youngest player ever, to win Super Bowl MVP in NFL history. Mahomes is just different, as he sees the game in slow-motion.

He could go down as the best quarterback ever because that is how special he is.

He is not the best just based on accomplishments, but in the sense of a complete skill set.

Mahomes has all the tools to be the frontman of a new generation of dual-threat gunslingers, which will be a scary sight for the rest of the league for many years to come.