Suffering, legacy, revenge: The Kansas City Chiefs want to found a dynasty in the Super Bowl and don't give a damn about the rules of the NFL. Their superstar Patrick Mahomes is driven by dark thoughts. Will they help against the San Francisco 49ers offensive machine?
Patrick Mahomes needed a very good fourth quarter to finish off the San Francisco team. Back in the Super Bowl. Four years ago. In the final section, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback turned up the heat, led his team from behind to a 31:20 comeback victory – and not only made his first championship title clear (the first of his franchise after a 50-year drought), but also the dream wiped out by the big 49ers' first trophy since 1994.
While the 49ers are chasing that goal again on Sunday and looking for revenge, Mahomes is now breaking the rules of the NFL. The unwritten ones, of course. His Chiefs are seeking their third Super Bowl win in five years and trying to build a dynasty. Some would even say: to consolidate. Because it already exists. It is the Chiefs' fourth Super Bowl appearance in the past five years.
Something like that should actually be impossible in the US football league, which uses a system to combat the dominance and boredom of, say, FC Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. The NFL relies on relative equality. The worst team from the previous season gets first access to the top college talent in the draft. That's why there are almost never serial winners in American football. Even a rare dynasty like that of the New England Patriots with quarterback superstar Tom Brady only managed to win the Super Bowl twice in a row once. In Bayern's 11 consecutive years of championships since 2013, there have been seven different Super Bowl winners in the NFL. Despite marketing machinery to the hilt in the most commercialized sports league in the world: this is what equal opportunities looks like. Actually.
Chiefs break the dynasty law
Kansas City is now breaking that law and making the impossible possible. That's how strong the dominance of the last half decade is. The team plans to win the title in back-to-back years for the first time since the Patriots in 2003 and 2004. Another championship and no one could deny the Chiefs their dynasty.
Coach Andy Reid said at a press conference on Tuesday morning (local time) that others should speak up about the topic of dynasties. Patrick Mahomes defined this in a media round after being asked by ntv.de as follows: “You have to play consistently successfully over the years and always win.” But the quarterback explained that he doesn't want to call his Chiefs a dynasty while he's still active. “When I retire at some point, I'll look back at what we've accomplished and then maybe it'll be a dynasty.”
Of course, this is only possible because the Chiefs know Patrick Mahomes in their own ranks. The quarterback had the worst regular season of his career, but excelled in the playoffs in a tried-and-tested manner (eleven touchdowns and no interceptions, completing 70 percent of his passes). He showed everyone who dared to criticize him during the season that he is – as they say in the USA – “The Dude”.
He's the type of guy who always makes it work, especially when it matters most. With Brady's Patriots, too, it was often the case that the team struggled through the playing time, only to turn things up in the knockout phase and often end up victorious.
The Super Bowl in Las Vegas may be another game in which Mahomes will have to work his magic because his team doesn't have the playmakers that the 49ers have (more on that below). He's the one who has to create and extend almost every attack – unless running back Isiah Pacheco is stomping one of his patented, furious runs into the turf.
Of course, it helps that Mahomes has perhaps the best tight end in league history in Travis Kelce at his side. Kelce, like his quarterback, turned things around in the playoffs after a stuttering season. And even if the 49ers could concentrate entirely on him so that the Chiefs can only win in a different way, the partner of pop icon Taylor Swift can never be completely defended due to the absurd paths he always takes.
In addition, head coach Andy Reid is a wizard on the perimeter and alongside running monster Pacheco, who is expected to be one of the decision-makers on Sunday against the 49ers' weak run defense, the Chiefs can rely on an outstanding defense this year: The defense only allowed more than 24 points once.
49ers and the offensive weapons
Nevertheless, the 49ers are the favorites according to the bookmakers in Las Vegas. The fact that they are in the Super Bowl for the eighth time is no surprise after an overall strong regular season. This year's success comes primarily from the fact that the Californians have a team with such an arsenal of weapons on offense that Mahomes' mouth would water just by reading the lineup.
In addition to Brock Purdy, a highly efficient quarterback in his second year, San Francisco has several talented playmakers that the Chiefs don't have: Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel (the wide receiver should be back from his shoulder injury), George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey. All four 49ers stars can provide 15 or 20 yards on the field out of nowhere, one carelessness from the opponent and they strike. They can also cause serious problems for the Chiefs' highly touted defense.
Star running back McCaffrey in particular will play an important role in the final. He is perhaps the world's most dangerous football weapon outside of quarterbacks and was part of the narrower circle of candidates for the MVP award this year, which usually only includes quarterbacks.
On February 11th the mega spectacle of the year will take place: the Super Bowl. RTL and RTL+ will broadcast the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers as well as the halftime show with megastar Usher.
The kick-off takes place on the night of Sunday to Monday at 12:30 a.m. according to Central European Time. The broadcast starts at 11:15 p.m.
With this strong offense and a more than capable defense, the 49ers will look to avenge the 2020 Super Bowl loss, equal the record of the Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers with the franchise's sixth title – and of course the old rules and laws to restore the NFL. The 49ers want to ensure justice and keep a real Chiefs dynasty away from the rest of the league, at least for now.
Pain drives Mahomes
It's just stupid that Patrick Mahomes is waiting on the other side. The Dude. The almost invincible machine. The eternal title-hungry one. Similar to Tom Brady, it is not unlikely in virtually every game that he will outplay the quarterback on the opposing side – and, as it happens in American football, that is more than half the battle in a single game.
Mahomes is on a mission, driven by dark thoughts. He hates losing even more than he loves winning. “I lost a Super Bowl and I know how much it hurts,” he said in a media roundtable on Monday at the opening ceremony at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He never wants to have to feel this suffering, this misery again: “When you lose and sit in the locker room and have the feeling that you were so close and didn't make it,” that's the worst. “I'm almost more addicted to avoiding that feeling than to lifting the trophy.”
Now the playmaker is eager to give this pain a resounding slap in the face, defeat the 49ers again – and slowly but surely let his legacy grow to Brady size. He is only too happy to ignore NFL laws.
