Heroic, Patrick Mahomes overcame the pain to allow the Chiefs to win their third Super Bowl, by overthrowing (38-35) the Eagles, Sunday February 12, after one of the most beautiful finals in history and an exceptional duel with the other quarterback Jalen Hurts.
It’s a 27-yard kick from Harrison Butker, who delivered Kansas City, 8 seconds from the siren and after a breathless suspense.
The Missouri team succeeds the Los Angeles Rams, for its third attempt on the last step in four years, after a failure in 2021 and a victory in 2020. And Mahomes confirms that he is a credible heir to Tom Brady in the NFL, even if with this second ring, he is still far from the seven of his glorious eldest, neo-retired.
Led by the score for three quarters during, ten lengths at half-time, they went through all the emotions, hanging on the fate of Mahomes, when, at the end of the second quarter, it was done again pain in the right ankle, already battered by a sprain during the play offs. His grimace of pain indeed raised fears of an inability to continue this 57th Super Bowl.
” I said this week that nothing was going to take me away from the field (…) The competitor that there is in you is what you work for all your life. I knew I wouldn’t get out of this game. Even with this sprain a little worse “, said afterwards the MVP of this final, which was already that of the regular season.
Rihanna performs the show
With courage, he managed to revive his team in the third quarter, with a run of 14 yards, prior to the touch down of running back Isaiah Pacheco (24-21).
The suspense then quickly resumed its rights in this spectacular poster, between the two best teams of the season, “driven” by the two best quarterbacks.
Because opposite, Jalen Hurts had just struck the spirits for his first final. After opening the scoring on the run in the first quarter, then finding AJ Brown in the end zone, on a wonderful pass from 45 yards, he made his only mistake of the match by losing a ball, immediately punished by Nick Bolton against (14-14).
But he immediately showed a steel mind on the next possession, moving up the field with the strength of his legs. Elusive, he chained three races of 14, 28 and 4 yards to put the Eagles in front (21-14), becoming the first quarterback in history to succeed two touchdowns in the run and one in the pass in a Super Bowl.
And this, even before half-time, the show of which was provided by Rihanna. All dressed in red, suspended by cables on a platform lowered onto a long stage placed in the center of the field, she chained her hits including “Umbrella”, surrounded by around fifty dancers. Then, the Barbadian artist, pregnant with her second child, went back up there, for her finale, on the chorus “Diamonds in the Sky”.
Great publicity
There was no shortage of diamonds either in Glendale (Arizona), on the lawn of State Farms Stadium, filled with some 67,000 spectators and an audience of stars, Paul McCartney and LeBron James in the lead. Because Hurts and Mahomes, who had not been outdone in the meantime, by finding Travis Kelce, for a first touch down equalizer (7-7), shone even brighter in the second act.
On an even more historic note, it was the first time that two African-Americans in this key position opposed each other in the high mass of US football. And, between several million-dollar television ads, they did the best publicity there is for the sport, which is also talked about for the violence of its shocks, as the cardiac arrest suffered by Damar Hamlin in full game after a tackle. A little over a month later, the Buffalo player was present on the lawn before kick-off.
In the unsustainable last quarter, Mahomes found Kadarius Toney on a throw, to finally give the Chiefs the lead (28-27). Which we do break when their “QB” found Skyy Moore for his third touch down in the pass, after a fantastic comeback from Toney, again him (35-27).
Folded match? Not yet, as Hurts has managed his third touch down in the race, setting a record for a quarterback in a final, before converting it by two points by going into the in-goal again (35-35). Vain exploit… To shine like a diamond in the rough was not enough, it was a little more polished in the face.
(With AFP)