USA TODAY International Edition
We haven’t seen last of Chiefs, Mahomes
Andy Reid’s comeback kids have a target on their backs, Jarrett Bell writes.
MIAMI – They were running on adrenaline on Monday morning, Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, having been up all night celebrating the Chiefs’ victory in Super Bowl LIV. Just perfect for deep reflections. Reid, the 61- year- old coach, still had his humor intact. When someone asked whether he slept with the Vince
Lombardi Trophy that was won in grand, comeback fashion against the 49ers, he shot back, “I slept with my trophy wife.”
He also spent significant time at the team’s victory party, admiring the Miami- flavored headliner, Pitbull.
“He’s got great endurance,” Reid said. He should know. The same can be said of his team, sparked by Mahomes, which is the first unit in Super Bowl history to overcome double- digit deficits in three consecutive postseason games to win the crown.
The Chiefs surged in the divisionalround playoff against the Texans after trailing 24- zip. They rallied from a 10- 0 hole against Tennessee in the AFC title game. Then on Sunday night at Hard Rock Stadium, the resilient Chiefs scored 21 unanswered points in a fiveminute span to produce a 31- 20 win. Boy, can they strike fast.
If this were an NBA team, it would be the Warriors rolling with a Stephen Curry flurry. Much of the splash in Kansas City’s case is supplied by the magnificent Mahomes, 24, now the youngest quarterback to win Super Bowl MVP honors – a year after earning the league MVP award. But it’s never just one play
er responsible for the big momentum swings that have become a signature to this playoff run. The Chiefs’ defense must get the stops. Special teams play a role.
Yet they all know it’s about putting the football back into Mahomes’ hands, just like it was during his senior year at Whitehouse High in East Texas when he ran for the touchdown that capped the last- minute drive against perennial power John Tyler to win the district crown.
“Compete until the clock hits zero,” Mahomes said. “That’s how I’ve been my entire career.”
Mahomes and his coach spent a few minutes during a news conference at a downtown hotel ruminating on the past, present and future.
They know what’s coming next season, when oddsmakers have installed the Chiefs as co- favorites – along with the Ravens – to win it all again. Both Reid and Mahomes mentioned how Kansas City will be a target. But they also talked about continuing to evolve with their schemes.
On Sunday night, the Chiefs employed a creative goal- line play that has earned the moniker “Spin- A- Rama,” because the entire backfield executed a pirouette as it shifted while in a shotgun formation. Then Damien Williams ( whose monster game included 104 rushing yards, 29 receiving yards and two touchdowns) took a direct snap and blasted up the middle to set up a TD on the ensuing play.
Mahomes said they started working on the play on the first day of organized team activities last spring.
Added Reid, “We actually have a whole package. Wait till next year. We’ve got some good stuff.”
No, Reid, who has spent 21 years as a head coach and nearly as long climbing the ranks as an assistant, hasn’t given a single thought about retiring. He turned and glanced at Mahomes, sitting to the side, to illustrate that point.
“I’ve got this young quarterback over here that makes life easy, every day, to come to work,” he said.
It is probably time, though, for the Chiefs to try signing Mahomes to a longterm contract extension. He seems destined to land the NFL’s first $ 200 million contract – at least – and the Chiefs could save themselves considerable angst by doing an early deal. Mahomes is signed through 2020, although it’s a given that Kansas City would exercise its fifth- year option by the May 3 deadline to lock him up in 2021.
Mahomes didn’t discuss specific aspects of his contract situation, although he reiterated that he wants to stay in Kansas City for the long run. He also spoke of keeping other core players in tow, maintaining that they have formulated a brotherhood. That could become a significant factor in the structure, and maybe even the size, of Mahomes’ next deal, as the Chiefs will ultimately need to find ways to keep as much premium talent as possible. Mahomes added that such business will be handled by others, including his agent, Leigh Steinberg.
“I have a great group of guys – and girls – working for me,” he said. “For me, it’s about trusting these people to find the best way to do it in order to have the best team around me, and getting that done when the time is right.”
Mahomes has certainly made his case over the past two seasons that he should be the most valued player in all of pro sports. He and Baltimore’s freshly minted MVP, Lamar Jackson, are the faces of the next generation of stars for the most valuable sports league. That should pay, perhaps even more so when considering how the Super Bowl LIV player with the richest contract, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo ( five years, $ 137.5 million), crumbled in crunchtime.
Hey, the Chiefs can’t say they didn’t see this coming. Reid said that after Mahomes became a starter at Texas Tech, Chiefs GM Brett Veach maintained that the quarterback was “the greatest player I’ve ever seen.”
“He kept laying the tape on my desk,” Reid recalled. “I’m going, ‘ This is like the greatest player I’ve ever seen.’ It was one of those things. Then you go, ‘ Well, we’ll see how he does in the NFL.’ He can’t do all that stuff.”
In 2017, the Chiefs traded up to land Mahomes with the 10th pick in the draft.
“Then he came to us and started doing all that stuff,” Reid added, mentioning the no- look passes, extension of plays and laser strikes down the field.
The tape didn’t lie on Mahomes. And he’s far from done.