Super Bowl LIV: Patrick Mahomes named game MVP after brilliant fourth quarter

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Patrick Mahomes did it again, living up to the moniker Magic Mahomes.

The Chiefs’ do-it-all quarterback led his team back from double-digits for the third straight game. He did it on the biggest stage of all, leading the Chiefs over the San Francisco 49ers, 31-20, in Super Bowl LIV Sunday night at Hard Rock Stadium.

Mahomes was named Super Bowl MVP after a brilliant fourth quarter during which he threw a pair of touchdowns, lifting his team, his coach and all of Kansas City. Mahomes helped erase a 10-point deficit and lead the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl title in 50 years and the first of Andy Reid’s 21-year coaching career.

If the rest of the NFL wasn’t already on alert, Mahomes, at 24 years old, has won a league MVP, a Super Bowl MVP and a Super Bowl title. He’s only been a starting quarterback for two seasons.

Mahomes completed 26-of-41 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for a score as well, but it hadn’t been a typical Mahomes’ game until the fourth quarter. He threw two interceptions in the third quarter — the first two that he’s thrown these playoffs. But he was magical the last eight minutes of the game, with the Chiefs down 20-10 and time ticking away.

But Mahomes wouldn’t let it slip away.

“Coach Reid told me to keep firing, keep believing in your eyes and keep throwing it,” Mahomes said in his on-field interview with Fox. “He has confidence in me whatever I do. It worked out at the end.”

Mahomes threw touchdown passes to Travis Kelce and Damien Williams in the last 6:13. On the go-ahead drive, Mahomes was 5-for-5 for 60 yards and ran for another six yards in what was just a mesmerizing end to this game.

On what proved to be the game-winning touchdown, Mahomes threw it to Williams, who made a dash for the right pylon. He stepped out of bounds just as the he reached over the goal line. The play stood after it was reviewed.

This type of comeback performance has come to be expected from Mahomes in the playoffs.

In the divisional round, the Chiefs trailed the Texans, 24-0, in the first half. Kansas City won, 51-31, after Mahomes threw for five touchdown passes. The following week, the Titans led Kansas City, 10-0 and 17-7. Mahomes led the Chiefs to a 35-24 win, throwing for three touchdowns and rushing for one as well.

Things started to look bleak for the Chiefs as it was nearing the midway point of the fourth quarter. Mahomes completed a second-down pass to Tyreek Hill for 16 yards. But it was challenged and reversed and called an incomplete pass. On the very next play, Mahomes hit Hill for a 44-yard gain. That was the big play the Chiefs needed. It changed the momentum of the game and Mahomes delivered.

“We never lost faith,” Mahomes said. “That’s the biggest thing. We believed in each other. That’s what we’ve been preaching all year.”