Patrick Mahomes added to his growing legend by leading the Kansas City Chiefs on a game-winning drive in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII.
The 28-year-old quarterback earned his third Super Bowl ring and third Super Bowl MVP in just his seventh NFL season and is already surpassing Hall of Famers on the all-time postseason touchdowns list in the process.
But doing what no quarterback or team, for that matter, has done -- winning three Super Bowls in a row -- is the next incredible feat Mahomes is looking to add to the Chiefs' ongoing dynasty.
"It's legendary. No one's ever done it, and we knew it's legendary to win back to back," Mahomes said on Monday at his Super Bowl MVP news conference. "I think eight other teams have done it. We had heard it all week. We had talked to the guys about it and we felt like we had the best opportunity that we had ever had to go out there and do that and fell short the year before. So, all you can do is come back next year with a fresh mindset knowing it's going to be even harder. We got to continue to play our best football. We'll celebrate these next few weeks, and then we'll get right back at it."
Mahomes was simply magnificent as he kept Kansas City afloat throughout a scoring exchange with San Francisco down the stretch. The game-winning drive he orchestrated in overtime was a near-perfect display of quarterbacking, as he went 8-for-8 passing for 42 yards and one touchdown while adding 27 crucial yards rushing.
The Chiefs trailed the 49ers for 42 minutes and five seconds of Super Bowl LVIII, which is the second-most game time trailed by a victor in the game's history, per NFL Research. Kansas City also became the first team in Super Bowl history to win after trailing on four separate occasions in the game.
Kansas City's perseverance in Super Bowl LVIII was an encapsulation of its 2023 season.
"I want to take the credit, but honestly, it was everybody," Mahomes said of the Chiefs' ups and downs this year. "I knew it was going to turn around, but the way the guys worked. Whenever stuff got tough, especially in that receiving room or offensive line or whatever, or with me. Everybody came to work the next day, and we'll just get that extra work in. Let's do those extra things. And when you see that, you know it's going to turn around. Our defense kept us in that all year long. I knew our offense was going to turn because of how hard guys are working every single day. When you work that hard, usually good things happen. So, it just happened right at the perfect time, and we just got that momentum into the playoffs and obviously got to win the Super Bowl."
The Chiefs became just the fourth team in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in a five-year stretch and became the seventh franchise to hoist four or more Lombardi Trophies. Mahomes became the third QB in NFL history to notch 15-plus playoff wins and just the fifth signal-caller ever to win three Super Bowls.
All those numbers can conceivably improve as soon as this upcoming season with Andy Reid confirming his return for the Chiefs' quest for a three-peat on Monday.
When asked about Kansas City's immediate outlook and how it relates to the middle phase of his own career, Mahomes described an organization that's built to do the unprecedented.
"I think it's a tribute to coach Reid and (general manager) Brett Veach [that they] continue to bring great players in," Mahomes said. "If you look at our defense and how young they are. They're drafting great. They're finding these guys that they can bring in to play and develop. Our coaching staff is developing players. I always think to our DBs. We got like five or six guys that are in Year 1, Year 2 and then you have (L'Jarius) Sneed. I mean, guys that continue to get better and better. All you can do is just go to work every single day and try to bring guys along. I thought Rashee Rice did a great job. Just continuing to get better and better. That's what great football teams need is guys that just keep coming to the culture that we built here and continuing to get better every single week. I'll try to keep as much flexibility as I possibly can as far as the cap and stuff like that. It's a credit to all the people I have around me."
