Super Bowl: Chiefs reign after ascending in fourth quarter against 49ers

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020 | 3:33 p.m.

Updated Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020 | 10:21 p.m.

MIAMI — Damien Williams skipped sideways off the field after his final touchdown. Frank Clark crouched down and shot out his arms after a sack. Patrick Mahomes pumped his fist more than once as the final minutes played out in his favor.

The Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl champions for the first time in 51 years, riding a fourth-quarter outbreak to a 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at Hard Rock Stadium.

The score doesn’t come close to telling the story of the game, as the 49ers controlled the majority of the action. Their defense was as good as advertised with Nick Bosa and DeForest Buckner harassing Mahomes all night until he found his groove in the fourth quarter.

San Francisco led 20-10 from late in the third quarter when Raheem Mostert scored a one-yard touchdown to midway through the fourth quarter. That’s when Mahomes broke out of his funk.

On a 3^rd-and-15 from his own 35-yard line, Mahomes shuffled away from pressure and found a streaking Tyreek Hill for a 44-yard completion. Five plays later, after a blatant pass interference in the end zone, Mahomes connected with Travis Kelce for a 1-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 20-17.

Then, Kansas City’s defense showed up in a big way. The Chiefs didn’t allow the 49ers to pass midfield on their next two drives, getting their offense the ball back in quick fashion.

Damien Williams made sure it was worth their while. The Chiefs’ running back finished with 133 total yards and two touchdowns — both in the final three minutes.

Williams hauled in the go-ahead 5-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes with 2:44 to play. Then, after the Chiefs stymied a 49ers’ game-winning touchdown drive chance with a turnover on downs, Williams broke loose for a 38-yard touchdown run.

He wasn’t the only Kansas City player to put big numbers. Tyreek Hill had nine catches for 105 yards. Mahomes put up 286 passing yards and two touchdowns to go with 29 rushing yards and another touchdown.

Defensively, Bashaud Breeland had seven tackles and an interception to set up the Chiefs’ first touchdown. He picked off a pressure-forced wobbly Jimmy Garoppolo pass late in the first half.

Kendall Fuller had an interception when the 49ers got the ball back down 31-20 with 1:12 left to play in the game. The Chiefs ran out the clock and it wasn’t long before the sidelines poured onto mid field amid a downpour of red and gold confetti.

Mahomes is no longer an NFL MVP without a Super Bowl. Kansas City’s Andy Reid is no longer  the winningest coach in NFL history without a Super Bowl.

The Chiefs are champions.

Chiefs go up 24-20 with 2:44 to play

Patrick Mahomes’ teammates say one of his best attributes is a prevailing calm regardless of the situation. The 62,417 fans in Hard Rock Stadium are currently witnessing that first hand.

Mahomes has shook off a somewhat rough game to put the Chiefs in position to win their Super Bowl in 51 years with touchdown passes on each of their last two drives. After the earlier fourth-quarter strike in the back of the end zone to Travis Kelce, Mahomes just found Damien Williams for a five-yard touchdown pass to give Kansas City its first lead since early in the second quarter.

Mahomes has now thrown for 286 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions on 26-for-41 pasing. The 49ers have plenty of time to answer, but they went 3-and-out on their last possession with the Chiefs’ defense getting consistent pressure on Jimmy Garoppolo.

Chiefs cut 49ers’ lead down to 20-17 with 6:13 to play

The scoring drought has ended just in time for a memorable finish to Super Bowl 54.

Patrick Mahomes just took the Chiefs 83 yards down the field in less than three minutes to cut their deficit down to three points. Kansas City got down to the one-yard line on a pass interference call on San Francisco cornerback Tarvarious Moore, who never turned around and ran into tight end Travis Kelce in the end zone.

Kelce caught the ensuing 1-yard touchdown pass. The real highlight came four plays earlier, when backed up to 3^rd-and-15 from his own 35-yard line, Mahomes found a wide-open Tyreek Hill for a 44-yard gain.

As it so often does, the Super Bowl will come down to the final minutes.

49ers lead 20-10 with 2:35 to go in the third quarter

The 49ers forced Patrick Mahomes into a mistake, and they capitalized on it.

Fred Warner intercepted an errant Mahomes pass near the 50-yard line, and his offense made use of the short field. San Francisco scored in only six plays with Raheem Mostert punching the touchdown in from the one-yard line.

Both Mahomes and Jimmy Garoppolo now have an interception, but the latter has surprisingly outdueled the latter with 183 yards and an average of 9.2 per attempt to the former’s 136 yards and average of 6.2 yards.

49ers lead 13-10 five minutes into second half

Robbie Gould capped the 49ers’ first drive in the first half with a mid-range field goal. Robbie Gould capped the 49ers’ first drive in the second half with a mid-range field goal.

Gould’s second field goal of the day was successful from 42 yards out, four farther than his previous attempt. Emmanuel Sanders had two first-catches on the drive, while Greg Kittle also hauled in a 27-yard reception.

Deebo Samuel got an unlikely third carry of the game, and with it set the record for most rushing yards by a receiver in Super Bowl history. He’s currently at 53 yards.

Now it’s the Chiefs turn to answer.

49ers tie the game at 10

The running game and short passing routes was how the 49ers were supposed to beat the Chiefs. It sure worked on their third drive at Hard Rock Stadium.

San Francisco marched down the field quickly, getting its first touchdown in less than five minutes after going 80 yards on seven plays. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk took found the end zone on a 15-yard pass from Jimmy Garoppolo.

Deebo Samuel and Tevin Coleman helped get San Francisco into scoring territory. Samuel took a short pass 16 yards early in the drive while Coleman broke loose through a huge hole for a 17-yard gain to take the 49ers down to the 26-yard line.

Chiefs lead 10-3 with 9:32 left in the first half

After scoring their first touchdown, the Chiefs managed another deep drive. This one stopped a little bit short, with Harrison Butker kicking through a 31-yard field goal to give Kansas City a touchdown advantage.The Chiefs converted another fourth-and-1 inside the red zone when Mahomes pitched the ball to Damien Williams on an option run out of the shotgun, but they could only pick up three yards on the ensuing three plays.

The scoring possession went 43 yards over nine plays and 4:36 after a Bashaud Breeland set it up.

Chiefs go up 7-3 with 30 seconds to go in the first half

Patrick Mahomes nearly fumbled the Chiefs’ drive away. On a third-and-11 play, Mahomes scrambled for a first down but fumbled the ball backwards and out of bounds.

That brought about a pivotal 4^th and 1 from the 49ers’ 5-yard line with Chiefs coach Andy Reid opting to go for it. Damien Williams converted, coming just within inches of the goal line before Mahomes scored on another rush two plays later.

The 49ers are driving to start the second half.

49ers take 3-0 lead at 7:57 of the first quarter

Defense dominated the first drives for each team.

The Chiefs went 3-and-out after receiving the kickoff, with Nick Bosa deflecting Patrick Mahomes’ first passing attempt. The 49ers moved farther down the field, largely off of a double reverse to rookie receiver Deebo Samuel for 32 yards, but stalled and settled for a 38-yard field goal from Robbie Gould.

The Chiefs’ deflected a third-down pass from Jimmy Garoppolo, who led the 49ers to go 52 yards in 10 plays in just more than five minutes.

Pre-game

The sea of conflicting shades of red briefly stopped their methodical march through the concourse on the 100 level of Hard Rock Stadium when a voice boomed over the chatter.

“One hour until showtime,” the usher yelled.

Super Bowl 54 is nearly here. The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers are minutes away from kicking off to determine the champion of the 2019-2020 NFL season.

The stadium is rocking and ready. The Super Bowl is sometimes considered to carry a relatively lifeless environment with corporate sponsors and business scooping up the vast majority of the tickets, but that does not appear to be the case this year — largely because of the Chiefs.

The 50-year wait for Kansas City to reach a Super Bowl is evident on site, as fans appear to have flooded to South Florida. It could even out in time for kickoff, but leading up to the game, the Chiefs seemed to have at least a 3-to-1 fan advantage in its favor.

The betting market has moved in their favor too as Kansas City is now as high as a 2-point favorite in Las Vegas sports books. The point total appears to have settled at over/under 53.5 points.

Stay tuned for updates live from the Super Bowl all day.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.