— Moments after leading a winning scoring drive in overtime, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was named Super Bowl LVIII MVP on Sunday night.
But it did not come without drama. Not with the Chiefs trailing and needing at least a field goal to extend the game.
Mahomes had a singular mindset when the Kansas City defense held the San Francisco 49ers to a field goal on the opening possession of overtime Sunday night.
“Our mindset was: Go win the game right here,” Mahomes said. “Once we got that ball — we fell short in regulation, we’re not going to do that again. We’re going to go out there and win the game.”
Done deal.
Because after Mahomes led the Chiefs 75 yards in 13 plays — including his running for 27 yards on a pair of carries, on fourth-and-1 and third-and-1 conversions during the drive — he hit receiver Mecole Hardman Jr. for a 3-yard, walk-off score with three seconds on the clock to give the Chiefs a 25-22 victory.
Mahomes threw for 333 yards while completing 34 of 46 attempts with two touchdown passes and an interception for a 99.3 passer rating, and ran for 66 more yards.
“The offense persevered,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “That last drive was a thing of beauty.”
And the Chiefs are the NFL’s first back-to-back champs since the 2004-05 New England Patriots.