Patrick Mahomes Wins First of Many Super Bowl MVPs

I don’t think that I will come to regret saying that last night’s Super Bowl LIV marked the end of the era of Tom Brady and the beginning of the era of Patrick Mahomes, Super Bowl MVP and future Hall of Famer.

It was an exciting game from start to finish that resulted in a halftime tie that I was sure the 49ers would come out on top of because of their strong defense and physically aggressive offense in the first half, which looked like it was successfully wearing down the Chiefs when San Francisco went up by 10 points in the third quarter.

And were it not for the super sexy halftime show, that might have been the story. The Super Bowl’s extended halftime, twice as long as a regular season game because of the logistics of the increasingly complex sponsored halftime shows, means that both teams came out for the second half fresh and rested. Those big hits the 49ers were putting on the Chiefs in the first half didn’t result in a lack of stamina in the second half.

Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes had stumbled, throwing two interceptions on two consecutive possessions. Then, as if nothing had happened at all, Mahomes rallied his team to a comeback reminiscent of Joe Montana’s march down the field against the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII. Down 20-10 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Chiefs scored three touchdowns at the end of the game to put the 49ers away.

By the time the clock hit zero, Mahomes had thrown two touchdowns and rushed for a third with over 300 yards of total offense; 286 yards passing and a further 29 yards rushing.

When Mahomes stumbled in the third quarter, it looked like Jimmy Garoppolo, who threw for one touchdown and 219 yards, was going to be the hero who brought San Francisco its sixth Lombardi Trophy, which would have tied the Steelers and Patriots for most all-time. But as Mahomes rallied, Garoppolo faltered. The good news for the 49ers is that like Mahomes, Garoppolo is young and has at least a decade of football ahead of him if he stays healthy. We may have just watched the beginning of the rivalry that will define football in the ‘20s the way Tom Brady’s rivalry with the Mannings defined the last two decades.