No team in NFL history had ever overcome an overtime deficit in the Super Bowl until the Chiefs did it in their victory over the 49ers at Allegiant Stadium.
After San Francisco elected to receive the overtime kickoff, the Niners drove 66 yards in 13 plays and kicked a field goal.
That meant the Chiefs had to at least get three points on their possession or the game was over.
The first two plays of the Chiefs’ drive gained 9 yards. Then Isiah Pacheco was stuffed for no gain.
That set up a fourth-and-1 play. If the Niners stopped the Chiefs, they’d be Super Bowl champions. If the Chiefs got the first down, the drive — and the game — would continue.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes picked up 8 yards on a rush, denying the 49ers the Super Bowl championship.
While on “The Peter King Podcast,” Mahomes was asked about the timeout the Chiefs used before the pivotal fourth-down play. Mahomes revealed that Marquez Valdes-Scantling had suggested the call, even though he was not one of the options on the play.
“Yeah, I wish I could take all the credit, but it was kind of crazy,” Mahomes said. “So, we were going through our plays, we were trying to decide if we were going to run or pass, and we had a couple of run plays kind of dialed up. We had already had a lot of short-yardage situations in the game and we were trying to find that perfect play.
“So I was thinking of passes because I wanted to pass it, obviously, and have the ball in my hand. It was actually MVS that came up to the huddle on the side and kind of said, ‘Hey, let’s go Slide Keys.’ Which is wild because it’s not really a play designed for him, it’s a play designed for Travis (Kelce) and Rashee (Rice). When he said it, it clicked for me, I was like, ‘That’s it. That’s perfect.’”
Mahomes then broke down the play and the options he had after the snap. As designed, Mahomes potentially could have thrown to tight end Travis Kelce or Rashee Rice.
“It’s kind of a bootleg play, where I fake a run and I get on the perimeter and there’s kind of a throw to Trav as he’s sliding across two guys,” Mahomes said. “I think it was MVS and Rashee going across the middle trying to cause some disturbance, some interference-type stuff, so Trav can outflank (the defenders). I like it because it gave me the option to throw to Travis. It gave me the option to throw it to Rashee. It gave me the option to run.
“I told coach, ‘Let’s call this.’ That type of play, you want it to be man coverage. I told coach, ‘If it’s not there, I’m going to run for it.’ And so he trusted us to go out there and cover. It was zone coverage and once I got outside and saw room to run, I just went and got it.”