The Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl 54 champions, an honour they earned with yet another comeback effort.
For the third time this postseason, the Chiefs had to overcome a double-digit deficit to secure a win, this time by a 31-20 margin over the San Francisco 49ers. Kansas City pulled off the victory with three consecutive fourth-quarter touchdowns.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes engineered the win, but he was hardly the only player who had a hand in it: Damien Williams came through with clutch — if controversial — plays, as did the defense. The 49ers also fell apart at the most inopportune time.
Here are 10 incredible stats from the Chiefs' come-from-behind win over the 49ers in Super Bowl 54:
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50 years
Kansas City’s win on Sunday marked the end of a 50-year Super Bowl drought for the Chiefs. This was not only Kansas City’s first win in the Super Bowl in half a century, but also its first appearance since 1970, when it was still an AFL team.
190 yards
That is the total combined yardage of the Chiefs’ final three touchdown drives. Before those drives, they had managed just 175 yards against San Francisco's defense the entire game. The offense came up big when the Chiefs needed it most. The 49ers, on the other hand. ...
49 yards
San Francisco might have held off the Chiefs' comeback had it managed to produce some offense. Unfortunately for the 49ers, they gained just 49 yards over their final four drives, which resulted in zero points, three first downs, a turnover on downs and an interception.
10-point comeback
The Chiefs were down 20-10 with 8:12 remaining in the game but scored 21 unanswered points to steal the victory. The Chiefs' comeback win is tied for the second-largest in Super Bowl history. The largest, of course, is that legendary comeback from down 28-3 by the Patriots over the Falcons in Super Bowl 51. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was on the losing end of both rallies.
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21-0 run
The Chiefs' three touchdowns in the fourth quarter came on a 1-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to Travis Kelce, a 5-yard touchdown catch by Williams from Mahomes and a 38-yard rush by Williams.
2 interceptions
Mahomes may have led the Chiefs to the promised land, but this wasn't his best statistical day on the gridiron. He threw two interceptions — the first to Fred Warner in the third quarter, the second to Tarvarius Moore in the fourth. It was his only two-interception game this season, not that it mattered in the long run.
66.7 completion percentage
Mahomes didn’t have his best game Sunday, but he put together two incredible drives to give the Chiefs the lead late. He completed 8 of 12 passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns as Kansas City took a 24-20 lead. Williams took over on the third with his 38-yard touchdown run.
133 total yards
Mahomes was voted Super Bowl 54 MVP, but Williams very well could have been granted the honor for his game Sunday. He not only rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown (on a 6.1 yard-per-carry average), but also caught four passes for 29 yards and another score.
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1 Super Bowl win
The Chiefs’ win on Sunday wasn’t special for just Kansas City. It also marked the first Super Bowl win in Andy Reid’s 21-year coaching career. Prior to Sunday, Sporting News had ranked him as the top coach in all of sports without a championship. He came up just short in Super Bowl 39 as coach of the Eagles, who fell 24-21 to the Patriots.
24 years old
At 24 years and 138 days old, Mahomes made history as the youngest player ever to win Super Bowl MVP honors, beating out previous record-holder Emmitt Smith (24 years, 260 days old). He also joins Tom Brady as the only quarterback to win the award while younger than 25.
