UPDATED 9:57 P.M.
GLENDALE, Ariz (Reuters) -Patrick Mahomes proved why he is the NFL’s Most Valuable Player as he shrugged off an ankle injury to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a dramatic 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday to claim their second Super Bowl in four years.
Kansas City’s hopes of returning home with the Lombardi Trophy looked bleak late in the opening half when quarterback Mahomes appeared to re-injure the right ankle that had been a major worry coming into the game.
Grimacing in pain after a tackle, Mahomes hobbled off the field and slammed his helmet to the turf as the Chiefs headed into halftime trailing 24-14.
But when the teams returned after the break a resilient Mahomes produced a heroic effort, tossing two fourth-quarter touchdowns and engineering a final drive to set up Harrison Butker’s 27-yard game-winning field goal with eight seconds to play.
“I told you all this week there was nothing going to keep me off this football field,” said Mahomes after accepting the Super Bowl MVP award to go along with the NFL MVP honor he received on Thursday.
There could be no better end to the NFL season than a championship game featuring the two teams with the best records and two dynamic young leaders in Mahomes and the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts – the first two Black quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl.
It was the type of intriguing matchup that drew a Who’s Who of industry, entertainment and sports to suburban Phoenix, with Elon Musk, Paul McCartney and LeBron James among the capacity crowd of 67,827.
Hurts, who was another leading candidate for the NFL MVP award, turned in an almost equally dazzling performance, running for three touchdowns and throwing for another.
While questions remained over Mahomes’ ankle there were no cracks in his determination as he started the third quarter by leading a 75-yard drive capped off by a one-yard run by Isiah Pacheco to cut the Philadelphia lead to 24-21.
Jake Elliott booted his second field goal to increase the Eagles’ advantage before Mahomes found Kadarius Toney with a five-yard touchdown strike for the Chiefs’ first lead of the night at 28-27.
Toney returned an Eagles punt 69-yards to the Philadelphia five, where Mahomes found Skyy Moore for a four-yard touchdown to increase their lead to 35-27
But the Eagles were not about to wave the white flag, Hurts spotting a wide open Devonta Smith at the two before diving over for the touchdown himself.
Philadelphia tied the game 35-35 with a two-point conversion with five minutes to play.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Glendale. Additional reporting Amy Tennery, Rory Carroll in Los Angeles. Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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GLENDALE, Ariz (Reuters) -Patrick Mahomes proved why he is the NFL’s Most Valuable Player as he shrugged off an ankle injury to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a dramatic 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday to claim their second Super Bowl in four years.
Kansas City’s hopes of returning home with the Lombardi trophy looked bleak late in the opening half when Mahomes appeared to re-injure the right ankle that had been a major worry coming into the game.
Grimacing in pain after a tackle, Mahomes hobbled off the field and slammed his helmet to the turf as the Chiefs headed into halftime trailing 24-14.
But when the teams returned after the break a resilient Mahomes produced a heroic effort, tossing two fourth-quarter touchdowns and engineering a final drive to set up Harrison Butker’s 27-yard game-winning field goal with eight seconds to play.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Glendale. Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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