I have to be honest, I didn’t see that coming.
The Philadelphia Eagles, betting favourites to win the Super Bowl on Sunday, were sitting at half-time with a 24-14 lead and Kansas City’s all-star quarterback Patrick Mahomes limping badly off the field with an aggravation of a high ankle sprain he suffered last week. It just didn’t look good for the Chiefs.
The Eagles managed this despite their own QB, Jalen Hurts, fumbling twice in the half, including one run back for a touchdown by KC to tie the game. But Hurts was relentless, almost single-handedly willing Philly down the field, passing and running, doing it all, including a couple of fourth down conversions that kept the Eagle juggernaut alive. The result was painfully obvious. When Philly had the ball, KC didn’t.
Mahomes was on the field for only eight minutes of the first half, mostly as a result of Hurts bulldozing his way down the field on multiple Eagle drives, driving up his lead and killing off the clock at the same time.
Then towards the end of the half, Mahomes finally gets on the field but aggravates a high ankle sprain when he scampers downfield on a broken play. He hobbled off the field in obvious discomfort and down the tunnel. It didn’t look good for the Chiefs.
Whatever they they gave that guy at half-time, I’d like to try some.
Kansas City took the field post-Rhianna and absolutely owned the place for the rest of the game, leading the Chiefs to a 38-35 win that was decided by a game-winning field goal with eight seconds remaining. A really sketchy holding call on Philadelphia late in the game pretty much sealed the outcome, which was too bad, given the stakes. But the officials were struggling all evening with reception calls, interference calls, and then this one, the holding call.
As much as it was a team effort, it was the undeniable magic of Mahomes that stood out.
I don’t know why I don’t worship this guy. Only five years in the league, the kid’s already snagged two Super Bowls out of his three appearances, five AFL championship games, two league MVP awards and two Super Bowl MVP awards. Not to mention this uncanny ability to take the ball and own it when his team falls behind, especially in the big games. In both of his Super Bowl victories, Mahomes has brought the Chiefs back from 10-point deficits both times.
That Jalen Hurts is no slouch either, and with Mahomes and other young quarterbacks in the league, these kind of heart-in-your-throat games are bound to become more the norm.
It was a hell of game, made even better by the fact that Rhianna survived the half-time show despite singing from a suspended stage that probably had her looking eyeball-to-eyeball with the guys in the broadcast booths. All I can say is that I hope there was a HALO chute stitched into her costume.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 