The Super Bowl has always been one of the biggest days on the sporting calendar — and in the country, period. Last season, it was the defending 2023 champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, squaring off against the San Francisco 49ers to crown the winner of Super Bowl 58.
It was an uphill battle for the Chiefs who were coming off of their worst season of the Patrick Mahomes era, whereas the 49ers, thanks to twin MVP candidates Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey, were looking to avenge the organization’s 2020 loss.
Epic Overtime Battle Decides Super Bowl 58
With the win, the Chiefs became the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since the New England Patriots did it in the early 2000s with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
The Super Bowl MVP went to Mahomes, who had a relatively quiet game by his standards with 333 yards and two touchdowns to his name. The honor was the third of his career, one for each of the Super Bowls in which he came out on top.
The game started as a strong defensive showing, with neither team scoring any points in the first quarter. However, the 49ers began figuring things out in the second quarter, scoring 10 unanswered points. The first touchdown of the game came in the form of a trick play, with Jauan Jennings passing to McCaffrey.
However, despite being down 10-0, the Chiefs responded before halftime with a 14-play drive resulting in a 28-yard field goal from Harrison Butker. The Chiefs then received the ball after the half, but Mahomes threw an interception on just the third play of the opening drive.
Early into the third quarter, the defenses showed out again. The first points of the second half came thanks to Butker again. He kicked a Super Bowl-record 57-yard field goal to bring the Chiefs within four points of the pre-match favorites.
Finally, the offenses came alive, with both teams starting to go back and forth. First, it was a fumble by the 49ers special teams unit that paved the way for Marquez Valdes-Scantling to score a touchdown and give Kansas City its first lead of the night, 13-10.
However, San Francisco responded in kind, running down the field before a blocked extra point gave them a three-point cushion. Neither team was going down without a fight, with K.C. getting field goals on its next two drives and the 49ers scoring one of their own, giving San Fran a 19-16 lead with 1:53 to go.
The final drive for Kansas City came with under two minutes remaining, forcing the game into overtime. The 49ers got the ball first, driving down the field for a field goal. However, it gave Mahomes four downs to work with, as the Chiefs ran their first designed QB run in three years to get down the length of the field.
It was a remake of their previous Super Bowl-winning red-zone play that gave Mecole Hardman an easy catch on the sideline and the Chiefs their third Super Bowl of the Mahomes era, a 25-22 win.
It also ensured that Mahomes had a second-half comeback victory in each of his Super Bowl victories, adding to his legend.
While San Francisco trailed off in 2024 thanks to injuries up and down its roster, the Chiefs persevered despite the depleted roster, etching out a 15-2 regular season in the quest for the NFL’s first-ever three-peat of the Super Bowl era.
