Trailing by 10 points with just over eight minutes left in the game, Mahomes spearheaded a spirited rally, leading his team to score on three consecutive drives.
Coupled with the MVP title he won last season, Sunday’s triumph makes the quarterback the youngest player to ever win both the award as best player in the league and the Lombardi Trophy.
The former Texas Tech alumni was named Super Bowl MVP, the only player in history along with Tom Brady to scoop the award before turning 25. Brady won the first of his four Super Bowl MVP crowns in 2002, when the New England Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams 20-17 in Super Bowl XXXVI.
At 24 years and 138 days, Mahomes is also the third youngest Super Bowl MVP in NFL history behind Marcus Allen and Lynn Swann, who claimed the accolade in Super Bowl XVIII and Super Bowl X respectively.
Mahomes completed 26 of his 42 passes for 286 yards and three touchdowns—two passing and one rushing—with a 78.6 passer rating, winning what one suspects may be the first of multiple Super Bowl titles.
The Chiefs signal caller also threw two interceptions, marking the first time this season he had multiple picks in the same game. The interceptions proved to be inconsequential and, in fact, only added to Mahomes’ record-breaking performance as he is now the only quarterback along with Brady and Terry Bradshaw to throw multiple interceptions in the NFL’s biggest game and win the Lombardi Trophy.
Brady was picked off twice in the Patriots’ 28-24 over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX, while Bradshaw threw interceptions as the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Los Angeles Rams 31-19 in Super Bowl XIV.
The 24-year-old is 5-0 when trailing by 10 or more points this season, the most-double digit comeback wins by any quarterbacks in NFL history. Three of those comebacks came in the playoffs—the Chiefs trailed the Houston Texans by 24 points in the divisional round, the Tennessee Titans by 10 points in the divisional round and the 49ers by 10 on Sunday—making Mahomes the first NFL quarterback to achieve the feat.
“I knew we weren’t in the ideal situation. I believed in my defense to get stops, and they did,” he said after the game. “Then the guys kept believing in me and kept making plays downfield, and we found a way to win.”
Thanks to Mahomes, the Chiefs have now tied the second largest comeback in a Super Bowl in NFL history.
The Washington Redskins overcome a 10-point deficit to defeat the Denver Broncos 42-10 in Super Bowl XXII, while the New Orleans Saints wiped out the same margin to beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV and the Patriots came back from 10 points down to win 28-24 against the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX.
The Patriots also hold the record for the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, when they came back from 28-3 to defeat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in Super Bowl LI.
San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan was the Falcons offensive coordinator back then and he must have felt a sense of deja vu on Sunday as he watched Mahomes snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
