What Went Down In Super Bowl LIV

The Kansas City Chiefs won their first championship in January 1970. They got their second a mere 50 years later.

Deep into the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Super Bowl, it looked like the Chiefs would have to wait at least another year for their second ring. The San Francisco 49ers were up 20-10 with a 95 percent chance of winning the game, according to ESPN’s win probability model. But superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes led two fourth-quarter scoring drives to take the lead, and running back Damien Williams capped it off with a game-sealing 38-yard touchdown run.

The win wrapped up a magical run for the Chiefs, who started the season a pedestrian 6-4 but then won their last nine games, including each one in the playoffs. They were the best team in FiveThirtyEight’s Elo model going into the game, and their comeback showed why.

Thanks for joining us tonight for our Super Bowl live blog. See you next season!

And because we can never let the dust settle on one season before the next starts, the Chiefs are favored to win it all next season, at 6-to-1 odds.

It’s undeniable.

My final observation:

I’d love to find out from Shanahan why he stopped calling the Samuel runs that the Chiefs could not stop all game.

Mahomes is in fact the MVP, because the quarterback is always the MVP.

Gatorade was ORANGE.

Mahomes said they “never lost faith” when down two scores in the fourth quarter, and why would they after the playoff run they had? Mahomes made the one huge play he needed (the bomb to Watkins), exactly when he needed to make it. And Reid had enough tricks up his sleeve — including the first-half fourth-down go-for-it call that ended up netting them four critical points.

I think this win puts Andy Reid into the Hall of Fame and I have no problem with that. I feel badly for Shanahan. You can always say, “He’ll be back,” but he already was back after almost tasting the ultimate victory only to have it turn sour. Now it happened all over again. There are no guarantees at all. I don’t have a lot of faith that Jimmy Garoppolo is going to get to another Super Bowl.

The Chiefs came into the season as the second-most likely Super Bowl winner behind the defending champion Pats, so this isn’t exactly a surprise. Mahomes was going to get this moment eventually. But I am surprised how quickly they turned it around tonight. Another testament to the incredible velocity at which this team can mount a comeback.

Oh no

I’m very happy for Kansas City and all my Chiefs fan friends. Though I’m a little worried about the Power and Light District tonight…

What a whirlwind. In fewer than 60 minutes of real-time clock, the Chiefs went from looking totally dead to being Super Bowl champs.

“Defense got some big stops for us,” said Pat Mahomes in the post-game interview, but I only remember about one and a half.

Gotta cover all your bases, LOL.

But then on Twitter I talked myself in the 49ers because of the subsequent article.

Mike’s 34-17 Chiefs prediction wasn’t too far off.

What color was the Gatorade? Mortgage is riding on this.

Give it to Deebo Samuel anyway.

I’d vote Williams for MVP.

A running back hasn’t won MVP since 1998, when Terrell Davis did it.

Yeah I think it has to be Mahomes, but you never know!

Those Shanahan timeouts just put all the over-33 rushing yards Mahomes betters in Bad Beat Land.

Gotta still be Mahomes, right Josh? Either that or Williams. But the pro-QB bias is real I think.

Mahomes has to get the MVP. They wouldn’t give it to Williams, would they?

Reid had a Hall of Fame coaching career before this win. Now, I refuse to hear any arguments to the contrary, ever.

Who gets the MVP?

Chiefs also snapping a 50-year Super Bowl drought. Among teams who have won a SB, that was the second-longest drought. (Sorry about the Jets, Mike.)

Lots of controversy on the Gatorade color with purple making a huge late run in the odds after being plus-1200 (Kobe).

Kendall Fuller gets the interception for the Chiefs to seal the deal.

Very happy for Andy Reid and Kansas City.

Andy Reid has the most career wins without a Super Bowl of any coach who didn’t coach in the pre-SB era. Not for long.

I’m super happy for Andy Reid right now.

What an abrupt turnaround. Wow.

What a time for a run to break free like that.

Well, I was going to say that if the Chiefs didn’t get a first down on the ground, they should throw all our aggressive-play-calling advocacy right out the window and try to coffin-corner punt it. But Damien Williams took it to the house, and out of the probabilities’ hands.

And here I was just a few minutes ago querying the Super Bowl winner with the worst record the season before. (SF would have tied the 1999 Rams, who also went 4-12 the previous season.)

If not even higher!

Shanahan has to be crushed. 92 percent chance to win in the fourth quarter today. What was it in the Patriots game? 98 percent?

Amazing. The Chiefs are Super Bowl Champions (unless something extremely crazy happens)!

The Texans are like, yep, we know this feeling.

There goes Damien Williams! TD Chiefs. 30-20!

And there’s an exclamation mark! Damien Williams with the touchdown.

There really isn’t much of a chance for San Francisco.

I agree, Sara. It felt like the play clock was at zero for at least 2.5 seconds.

Well, you know, we’ve seen a No. 10 wriggle out of that kind of pressure and make a huge play before.

Now KC will need to get a first down to use up SF’s three timeouts.

Well, that was a mess of a play. Should have been a delay of game before the sack ever happened.

KC’s pressure pass rush showed up BIG for one of the first times all game.

I don’t like that shot there.