Chiefs Erase 10-Point Deficit, Win Super Bowl LIV

CHIEFS 31 - 49ERS 20 

It wasn't easy, and it certainly wasn't pretty. But when you are a franchise like the Kansas City Chiefs, who have waited 50 years to win another Super Bowl, no road ever is.

When Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw his second interception of the evening on a pass intended for Tyreek Hill that bounced up into the hands of safety Travarius Moore with 11:57 to play, and Kansas City already down 20-10, things went from bleak to looking really bleak.

The 49ers rode their defense all the way to the Super Bowl. And after a topsy turvy first half, their front seven was really sticking it to the Chiefs and Mahomes. Kansas City couldn't slow down the Niner pass rush as defensive end Nick Bosa spent a large amount of time in the Kansas City backfield rushing Mahomes all night, forcing the 2018 League MVP to make throws he normally wouldn't make under most conditions.

After Kansas City scored its first touchdown of the night in the first quarter, the Chiefs were held to a field goal, a punt and two costly turnovers. They were getting beat in every sense of the word at the line of scrimmage, and it appeared for a while -- in that third quarter and early fourth quarter  -- that the Niners defense was about to put the clamps down on the Chiefs for good.

The interception by Mahomes with 11:57 to play was not only his second of the game, it was his second in the Chiefs last two possessions, and it killed a 12-play drive that ate 5:30 off the clock.

Can you say defense wins championships? Well, it looked like it was about to happen.

Then, all of sudden, the script changed.

The Niners couldn't take advantage of the second turnover, gaining only 17 yards on five plays as the Chiefs finally got a little heat under the collar of Jimmy Garoppolo, who was not only the understudy to Tom Brady at one point in his career, but was the understudy to Mahomes in the hype leading up to the game.

The question about whether Garoppolo would be able to handle the big moment appeared to be a story destined for the scrapheap. Heading deep into that fourth quarter, Garoppolo had only three incompletions, and was quietly putting together a Phil Simms-esque performance in the Super Bowl. He wasn't flashy, but he was getting it done.

Of course his teammates played a big role. Deebo Samuel was gashing the Chiefs on end arounds, screen passes, and seldom used fullback Kyle Juszczyk was having a huge impact with three very big catches, including a touchdown pass that helped propel San Fran to that 10-point lead.

But, as fate would have it it all fell apart, and the questions about the Niners offense, their quarterback and the play-calling of Kyle Shanahan would all come into question again.

But make no mistake, this wasn't the fault of any one person wearing 49ers White and Gold on Sunday night. What happened in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LIV was the equivalent of a flash of lightning hitting a tree and setting it catch fire. It happened quickly, unexpectedly and there was no way for the Niners to stop it.

When Mahomes dropped back all the way to his own 28-yard line and heaved a pass downfield that probably traveled close to 60 yards in the air only to drop into the waiting arms of Hill at the Niners 21-yard line, the character of this game changed for good.

Now the Chiefs were back to being the Chiefs -- a fast-break offense that can make big plays all over the field with Mahomes playing the role of point guard Steph Curry running the pick and roll for the Golden State Warriors.

Two plays after the pass to Hill, the Chiefs got a huge call to go their way when Travarius Moore was called for defensive pass interference on a play intended for tight end Travis Kelce. On the next play, Mahomes rolled to his right, faked the pitch-out and zipped the ball to Kelce, who somehow was left alone in the back-corner of the end zone for the touchdown.

Suddenly it was 20-17 with 6:13 to play. Kansas City was alive and well.

 Instead of playing the clock with a three-point lead, Shanahan had his quarterback throw the football,  and Garoppolo couldn't answer the bell with two dreary incompletions under heavy duress forcing a three-and-out.

And with that an open invitation was sent to the Chiefs who took full advantage. Mahomes completed four straight passes, including a 38-yarder to wide receiver Sammy Watkins to move the ball to the 49ers 10-yard line. After Mahomes scrambled for six yards on first and goal, running back Damien Williams took it in for six-points, extending his arms long enough to get the ball over the goal line for the score.

It was close too. It appeared in replay that Williams may have stepped out of bounds at the same time the ball was slicing over the goal line. Replay officials felt determining exactly when Williams' foot went out of bounds and when the ball crossed the line was inconclusive; the touchdown stood.

With San Francsico now down 24-20 Garoppolo got one last shot to show the world he could stand on the shoulders of giants like Joe Montana and Steve Young, and even his mentor Brady from his days in New England. All he had to do was lead his team the length of the field for a touchdown in the final minutes.

Garoppolo guided the Niners to the Chiefs 49-yard line before Kansas City turned up the heat on the young quarterback, forcing him to throw three straight incompletions. No incompletion was bigger than the pass Garoppolo chucked 35-yards downfield to Emmanuel Sanders that sailed over the wide receiver's head in a failed attempt to emulate the bomb once thrown by Joe Montana and caught by Jerry Rice thirty years earlier in Super Bowl XXIV.

Finally on fourth down Garoppolo was sacked as he tried to desperately get rid of the football, turning it over on downs.

From there the Chiefs turned the lights out on Super Bowl LIV when running back Damien Williams found a hole in the Niners defense, cut upfield and dashed past everyone on his way en route to a 38-yard touchdown that put the game away, ending a 50-year drought for a franchise that was one of the building blocks of the old AFL.

Speaking of the old AFL, some 43 years ago at the conclusion of Super Bowl XI, famed Raiders play-by-play man Bill King once said of Raiders coach John Madden after his team won the Super Bowl over Minnesota that "Madden's grin is ear-to-ear! He looks like a slit watermelon."

Well that maybe how to best describe Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid on Sunday night. Reid, who like Madden in 1977 had spent years searching and searching for that one Super Bowl victory, almost always coming up short was overjoyed. His grin, like Madden was ear-to-ear, with his large face turning as bright red as the Chiefs windbreaker he was wearing on the sideline.

It was his moment as much as it was the Chiefs moment.

Reid has been an NFL head coach for 21 years, and before coming to Kansas City in 2013, his Philadelphia Eagles teams were always coming up short in the playoffs, particularly in the NFC Championship Game. The one time the Eagles did get to a Super Bowl under Reid in 2004, they lost to the Patriots.

He hadn't been back since until Sunday night. This time he made it count.  For Reid it was 21 years; the Chiefs 50-years, stranded in the desert. And finally, at long last, finding paradise.