Photo: AFP via Getty Images
Thoughts, stats and observations:
An OK game for two and a half quarters authored a dramatic 4th quarter and OT finish. The NFL: The reality TV you simply can’t beat.
The 49ers seemed stronger and faster early in the game. But I kept saying to 49ers fan Kelly, ‘feels like the 9ers should be ahead by more”
Give Patrick Mahomes a chance and you will lose. SF up 10-0. SF up three with 1:53 in regulation. SF up three in OT. In OT, he converted a fourth-and-1 with an 8-yard scramble and went 8 for 8 on the game-winning drive, including the TD pass to Hardman.
I can’t be the only one caught off guard by the postseason OT rules.
Mahomes in six seasons as a starter: 6 Pro Bowls, 6 AFC title games, 4 Super Bowl appearances, 3 Super Bowl victories, 3 Super Bowl MVPs, 2 NFL MVPs, 1 NFL Offensive Player of the Year….He’s 28. (Per Keith Jenkins, AP).
Chris Jones is a game wrecker. Per Next Gen, he generated a team-high 6 pressures on 35 pass rushes. He pressured Brock Purdy on the 3rd & 4 of the 49ers’ opening OT drive, causing an incompletion and forcing a field goal. He wrecked Joe Burrow and the Bengals in last year’s AFC title game with 10 pressures, five quarterback hits and two sacks.
Mahomes lifted a team of WRs named: Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Rashee Rice, Justin Watson, Skyy Moore, Mecole Hardman, Kadarious Toney to a Super Bowl title. We are debating paying big money to Ja’Marr Chase AND Tee Higgins.
Hardman, the WR who caught the Super Bowl winning TD, was acquired at the trade deadline this season in exchange for a 2025 6th and 7th -round pick.
What was Tony Romo doing on the game-winner? He was babbling away as it unfolded. It was like the play snuck up on him, As a result, Jim Nantz was trailing the play.
Travis Kelce is probably the greatest TE in NFL history. But his immaturity and act is unbecoming. Bumping and screaming at his coach, again? Grow up. For all the class exhibited on the postgame stage by Reid, Mahomes and owner Clark Hunt, Kelce once again came off as a frat boy.
Commercials I liked:
Michelob Ultra: Messi, Dan Marino, Ted Lasso for
Dunkin Donuts: J Lo, Ben Affleck, Tom Brady, Matt Damon
BMW: Christopher Walken
The 49ers were down 13-10 with about 13:00 left in the game, facing 4th and 3 at KC 15-yard line with. Kyle Shanahan went for it. SF converted. Then scored a TD for a 16-13 lead (missed PAT). Are the Dan Campbell critics roasting Shanahan, as well?
Mahomes was KC’s leading rusher with 66 yards on nine attempts.
Big fan of Blake Lively.
KC’s leading rusher in the regular season (Isiah Pacheco) was a 7th round pick.
Steve Spagnuolo is a four-time Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator. He’s 11-41 as a head coach.
Jauan Jennings becomes the 2nd player ever to throw and catch a touchdown pass in the same Super Bowl, joining Nick Foles of the Eagles.
Christian McCaffrey is a stud: 80 yards rushing, 80 yards receiving and a TD catch.
KC let left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. walk in free agency and played without All-Pro guard Joe Thuney. The OL took over late in the game…208 of their 455 yards game in the 4th quarter and OT.
The SF D held KC to six points in the first 43:30 minutes of the game. Nick Bosa had 10 pressures for the game.
KC defense allowed more than 24 points in a game once (27) the entire season. And 22+ just three times. Per Bruce Feldman (The Athletic) KC allowed just four plays of 25 yards or more in the postseason.
What a crusher for Dre Greenlaw. Torn achilles running off the sidelines.
All-time playoff wins by a QB: Tom Brady 35, Joe Montana 16, Patrick Mahomes 15, Terry Bradshaw 14/John Elway 14/Peyton Manning 14/Steve Young 14. Per Albert Breer, MMQB
Kyle Shanahan has lost both Super Bowl OT times. The first came as OC of Atlanta when Tom Brady rallied the Patriots from a 25 point deficit.
Did CBS come up short in timing of pregame content? It felt like the last 20 minutes of guys on set was just filler to get them to 6pm. Never seen that before.
Chiefs open the NFL season at home next season on a Thursday night: vs Bengals? Texans?Ravens? Chargers in return of Jim Harbaugh?
What does the CBS NFL Today set look like next year? Per reports, the contracts of Phil Simms, Bill Cowher, and Boomer Esiason are all up.