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How The Kansas City Chiefs Won The Super Bowl - The New York Times

Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — After a 50-year wait, the Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl champions once again, after Patrick Mahomes engineered a stirring fourth-quarter comeback Sunday to beat the San Francisco 49ers, 31-20, at a raucous Hard Rock Stadium.

It was a game of momentum swings, but the last one went to the Chiefs, who entered the fourth quarter trailing by 10 points but proceeded to score three touchdowns over the course of just 5 minutes 1 second of game clock, overwhelming a San Francisco defense that had simply been hoping to hold on to a lead.

“I mean we never lost faith — that’s the biggest thing,” Mahomes said in an on-field interview immediately after clock ran out.

Mahomes, 24, became the youngest player named Super Bowl most valuable player, one year after he had become the youngest player named league M.V.P.

Mahomes had looked shaky for much of the game, throwing two second-half interceptions as his team fell behind by 10 points. But he was picked up by his defense in the fourth quarter as they harassed San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo into a series of bad throws and ineffective drives, allowing Kansas City’s offense to find its rhythm.

The comeback began with a 44-yard completion from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill on a crucial 3rd-and-15 play in the fourth quarter, and included short scoring passes to tight end Travis Kelce and running back Damien Williams. Mahomes finished the game having completed 26 of 41 passes for 286 yards, with the two touchdowns but also two interceptions. He got huge contributions from Williams (133 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns) and wide receivers Hill (105 receiving yards) and Sammy Watkins (98 receiving yards). Kelce, the team’s All-Pro tight end, scored the touchdown that followed Hill’s long catch, and began the Chiefs’ rally.

The win gave Coach Andy Reid his first championship after a long career defined by teams that were always good but could never quite get to the top. A Super Bowl champion as an assistant coach with Green Bay, he led the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl after the 2004 season as a head coach but lost the game to the New England Patriots.

An ebullient Reid was emotional after the win, saying of the comeback, “When you’re down by a couple scores, you have to jump in it.”

Comebacks have become the Chiefs’ signature. Sunday’s victory was the third comeback of 10 or more points by Mahomes and the Chiefs during this postseason — an N.F.L. record — and it seemed inevitable once Garoppolo and the 49ers’ offense began to falter.

Garoppolo, who controlled the game for three quarters, completed 20 of 31 passes for 219 yards and a touchdown, with two interceptions, one of which came after the Chiefs’ comeback as San Francisco desperately tried to get itself back into the game.

For Coach Kyle Shanahan of the 49ers, the loss had to bring back bad memories of the Super Bowl three years ago, when his Atlanta Falcons blew a 28-3 fourth-quarter lead and lost to the Patriots. While this comeback was not quite as extreme as the one engineered by Tom Brady that day, it was similarly gutting, as Mahomes brought his team back from its lowest point, converting a 3rd-and-15 pass with 7:13 left in the game.

To follow the game as it happened, read on:

Here’s what you need to know:

With the Chiefs looking to run out the clock, Williams breaks around left end instead and races down the sideline for a 38-yard touchdown. Game. Set. Super Bowl.

A Kendall Fuller interception of Garoppolo with 57 seconds left is just the cherry on top, and a chance to douse Andy Reid in Gatorade as he finally claims his first title as a head coach.

San Francisco has handed the ball back to Patrick Mahomes with just 1:25 left and the Chiefs leading, 24-20.

After a 16-yard pass to Kendrick Bourne had provided some hope on the drive, Garoppolo’s next three passes were incomplete, with one being batted into the air, one nearly being intercepted, and the third sailing well out of his wide receiver’s reach.

On 4th-and-10, he was wrapped up by Kansas City and tossed to the ground for a turnover on downs.

This game is all but over.

That did not take long.

Patrick Mahomes completed a 5-yard touchdown pass to Damien Williams and after the extra point, Kansas City finds itself leading, 24-20, with 2:44 left. Williams came close to stepping out of bounds on the touchdown catch, but he reached the ball over the pylon to break the plane of the goal line and the play was upheld after a review.

The Chiefs trailed by 10 points before Travis Kelce’s touchdown catch with 6:13 left in the fourth quarter. They now just have to hold on for less than three minutes to secure the team’s first championship in 50 years.

The 60-yard drive had started with a few short drives and then Mahomes looked deep to his right and connected with Sammy Watkins for a 38-yard pass that put the Chiefs on the 49ers’ 10-yard line.

Looking to keep the ball out of Patrick Mahomes’s hands, the 49ers absolutely fell down on the job.

They started with a 5-yard run by Emmanuel Sanders. After a Jimmy Garoppolo pass was batted down at the line of scrimmage by Chris Jones, the Chiefs put pressure on him again, forcing the San Francisco quarterback to simply throw the ball away on third down.

Patrick Mahomes now has the ball on his team’s 35-yard line, trailing by only 3 points, with 5:10 left in the game.

The 49ers’ drive took just 1:03 off the clock.

The comeback may be beginning. Now we have to see how Coach Kyle Shanahan responds.

Lining up at the San Francisco 1-yard line, Patrick Mahomes rolled to his right and threw to Travis Kelce for a touchdown that along with the extra point has the Chiefs trailing, 20-17, with 6:13 left in the game.

Earlier in the drive, San Francisco successfully challenged a call of a complete pass, resulting in a 3rd-and-15, but Mahomes, under intense pressure from San Francisco defenders, launched a ball down the field to a wide-open Tyreek Hill for a 44-yard gain that put the Chiefs just outside the red zone.

Another attempt to Hill sailed well out of the wide receiver’s reach, and Mahomes was chased into throwing the ball away by Arik Armstead on second down. That set up a 3rd-and-10. Mahomes threw incomplete to Kelce in the end zone, but Tarvarius Moore, who delivered an interception earlier in the game, was correctly called for pass interference, with the 20-yard penalty putting the ball on San Francisco’s 1-yard line.

At that point it was just a matter of time, and Mahomes put the points on the board with just one more play.

If you’re looking for a reason for San Francisco to be nervous, it comes from Patrick Mahomes’s performances just in this postseason. In a divisional round game against the Houston Texans, Mahomes and the Chiefs fell behind by 23-0 in the second quarter before winning, 51-31. In the A.F.C. championship game against the Tennessee Titans, the Chiefs fell behind by 17-7 before winning, 35-24.

With just under seven minutes to play, the 49ers are leading by 10 points. But Mahomes has the ball and a chance to score. And with Mahomes, scoring plays tend to come in a hurry.

Given a bonus drive by way of the interception, the 49ers were not able to do anything with it. They gained only 17 yards on five plays, with Jimmy Garoppolo being pushed out of bounds for a 4-yard gain on a third-down play where San Francisco had needed 14.

Garoppolo has been effective all game for San Francisco, completing 18 of 22 passes, but he uncorked one stinker on this drive, with his pass sailing across the middle of the field with no receivers anywhere near it. Luckily for the 49ers, no Chiefs players were anywhere near, it either.

After a solid punt with no return, Kansas City has the ball back on its 17-yard line.

Patrick Mahomes rushed another pass and the 49ers made him pay again. Throwing to Tyreek Hill in traffic was risky, and the ball was knocked into the air, where the second-year safety Tarvarius Moore grabbed it for San Francisco’s second turnover of the game. It was the first interception of Moore’s professional career.

The Chiefs had once again been steadily moving the ball down the field with a series of short plays when defensive tackle DeForest Buckner broke up the momentum with a 9-yard sack in which he spun Mahomes to the ground.

Mahomes recovered from the sack to scramble for a 13-yard gain, setting up a 3rd-and-6. But the ill-fated pass attempt to Hill handed the ball back to San Francisco.

At the end of the third quarter, the 49ers are leading the Chiefs, 20-10, but Patrick Mahomes has Kansas City moving the ball on a drive that had begun with San Francisco’s defensive line repeatedly pressuring him in the backfield.

The fourth quarter will begin with Kansas City having a first down at its 46-yard line, and while Nick Bosa and the rest of 49ers’ defensive linemen appear to have worn down the Chiefs’ offensive line, Mahomes has yet to seem all that bothered by it beyond throwing the ball away on the first play of the current drive.

Mahomes has plenty of large comebacks in his career, including in this postseason, so he is sure to turn this game into a fight. But if there is one thing that was stressed among 49ers players and coaches more than anything else this week, it was that Coach Kyle Shanahan will never take his foot off the gas pedal. Not after his Atlanta Falcons blew a 28-3 lead to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl three years ago.

Raheem Mostert plowed the ball into the end zone from the 1-yard line and San Francisco, thanks to a crucial interception, is leading Kansas City, 20-10, with 2:35 left in the third quarter.

The 49ers’ defense set up the 55-yard drive when Fred Warner intercepted a pass by Patrick Mahomes, and the 49ers were immediately aggressive, with Jimmy Garoppolo completing a 16-yard pass to Deebo Samuel.

After two plays went nowhere, Garoppolo found Kendrick Bourne over the middle for a 26-yard gain and a pass to Kyle Juszczyk got San Francisco to the 1-yard line.

They gave the ball to Mostert, Juszczyk delivered a huge block, and the 49ers now have a two-score lead.

The news is not all good for San Francisco, however. Joe Staley, the team’s starting left tackle and its longest-tenured player, is out of the game with a hand injury. His return is questionable.

Patrick Mahomes made an absolutely brutal mistake, throwing a pass directly to linebacker Fred Warner for an interception, to hand the ball back to San Francisco shortly after the 49ers had taken the lead.

The Chiefs had just survived a strip-sack fumble in which Nick Bosa was able to slap the ball out of Mahomes’s hand as he streaked past him. Mahomes, looking to make something happen in a game where he has often settled for dinks and dunks, tried to make up for the sack by attempting a deep pass to Tyreek Hill and Warner did not even have to move to snatch the turnover, returning it 3 yards and then celebrating with his teammates by streaking into the end zone for a group photo.

The 49ers offense takes over at their own 45-yard line.

San Francisco continued to mix things up with the run and the pass, and after a drive stalled out on the edge of the red zone, they took the lead with a 42-yard field goal by Robbie Gould.

Gould is now a perfect 15 for 15 on career attempts in the postseason, and the 49ers are leading, 13-10.

Jimmy Garoppolo got things started on the drive with two passes to Emmanuel Sanders that combined for 20 yards. Another end-around to Deebo Samuel went for 14 yards, but looked as if it might go for even more when he got a step on a few defenders along the sideline.

With 53 rushing yards, Samuel, a rookie wide receiver who is often used in the running game, has set an N.F.L. record for a wide receiver in a Super Bowl. He broke the previous record of 45, set by Percy Harvin of the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl following the 2013 season.

San Francisco would get one more first down on the drive, with a pass to Kyle Juszczyk, but they were not able to advance past Kansas City’s 24-yard line and needed Gould to bail them out on the drive.

Kansas City is known for its ultrafast wide receivers, but other than a 28-yard completion to Sammy Watkins, the Chiefs have not had any other pass gain more than 11 yards. The Chiefs’ second-longest play of the first half coming on a 14-yard run by Damien Williams.

To see Patrick Mahomes reduced to a series of short passes was surprising, but San Francisco linebacker Kwon Alexander said during the week that his team had what it took to stand up to fleet wide receivers like Tyreek Hill, Mecole Hardman and Watkins.

“What the answer to speed? Speed,” Alexander deadpanned before saying, “Nah, the answer to speed is smartness and being on top of your game and doing your job.”

He added: “When we go out there we play with each other as a team. We’re going to play fast, run, hit, cover, do whatever we’ve got to do to get this ring.”

With players as fast as Hill, Watkins and Hardman, any catch is a potential touchdown, so there is ample time for Alexander’s words to ring hollow in the second half.

Jennifer Lopez and Shakira restored sparkle and spectacle to the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday night with headlining sets heavy on Latin pride, a year after the pop-rock band Maroon 5 performed an anodyne set with the rapper Travis Scott that seemed to please nobody.

Lopez, 50, took an athletic, dance-heavy spin through hits from her 21-year career in pop music, from “Jenny From the Block” to “On the Floor,” with a guest appearance from the Colombian reggaeton star J Balvin for his track “Mi Gente.” Lopez spun atop a pole for “Waiting for Tonight” (showing off skills from her role in “Hustlers”) and brought out a children’s chorus for “Let’s Get Loud” that included the singer’s daughter, Emme.

Shakira, 43, likewise reached back through her discography, which began in her native Colombia in the early 1990s and broke through in the United States with her 2001 album “Laundry Service”: “She Wolf,” “Whenever, Wherever” and “Chantaje.” She seized an electric guitar for “Empire” and crowd-surfed before “Hips Don’t Lie.” The Puerto Rican pop sensation Bad Bunny, draped in a silver coat, joined her to perform his verse from Cardi B’s “I Like It.”

At one point in the first half it seemed as if Kansas City might be running away with the game. The Chiefs had taken advantage of a Jimmy Garoppolo interception to kick a field goal, which put Kansas City up by 10-3, and with a Patrick Mahomes-led offense, any lead is a commanding lead.

Undeterred by the early deficit, San Francisco Coach Kyle Shanahan stuck to his run-heavy attack, eventually softening up the Chiefs’ defense to the point where Garoppolo was able to tie the game at 10-10 by throwing to fullback Kyle Juszczyk for a 15-yard catch-and-run.

San Francisco’s defense rewarded Garoppolo’s touchdown pass by forcing a punt on what initially looked like a strong Kansas City drive, and the 49ers looked to be in position to take a lead in the final seconds of the half, when Garoppolo found George Kittle for a long completion in Kansas City territory. But Kittle was flagged for offensive pass interference, which left the game tied 10-10 as the team’s headed into the locker room.

While each team had a turn with momentum, the 49ers ended up with a mild yardage advantage, 178 to 155. The Chiefs, though, largely controlled the clock, having possessed the ball for 17:13 of the half’s 30 minutes.

Mahomes is 12 of 18 for 104 yards, running for the Chiefs’ lone touchdown, while San Francisco has accounted for nearly half of its yardage on the ground, with Raheem Mostert, Tevin Coleman and Deebo Samuel combining for 89 yards on 11 carries.

After an extended halftime with a performance by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, San Francisco will receive the ball to start the second half.

Kevin Draper is already looking ahead to the halftime show:

A number of musical artists, including Rihanna, reportedly declined to perform during the Super Bowl halftime show last year in support of Colin Kaepernick. In the off-season, the N.F.L. signed a deal for Jay-Z’s entertainment company, Roc Nation, to become the league’s “live music entertainment strategist.” Roc Nation helped recruit Shakira and Jennifer Lopez to perform for this year’s show.

In response to criticism for partnering with the same league that many believe blackballed Kaepernick, Jay-Z said, “We are two adult men who disagree on the tactic but are marching for the same cause.” Read our story on the Roc Nation and N.F.L. relationship here.

In what could be Kansas City’s final drive of the first half, the Chiefs were forced to punt the ball away after a disappointing end to a drive that had started well.

Kansas City had gotten three quick first downs by way of passes to Damien Williams and Blake Bell, and a short run by Williams and then a 10-yard pass to Tyreek Hill.

A Williams run and a sweep by Mecole Hardman then combined for minus-4 yards, and on 3rd-and-14, a short pass to Williams resulted in just a 1-yard gain.

San Francisco will get the ball back on their own 25-yard line following a touchback, with 59 seconds left in the half.

Kyle Juszczyk, the 49ers’ throwback of a fullback, took a short pass and rumbled toward the goal line, diving into the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown that along with Robbie Gould’s extra point has this game tied, 10-10.

San Francisco has shown an extreme commitment to the run all postseason, and today is no exception. An 80-yard drive consisted of 38 yards on the ground, with Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman finding scads of room to run against Kansas City’s defense. That softened up the coverage, as the Chiefs tried to compensate against the run, and Jimmy Garoppolo took care of the rest, with passes to Deebo Samuel and Juszczyk accounting for the final 26 yards of the drive.

That Garoppolo seemed so aggressive after having thrown an interception on his previous drive was a welcome sign for San Francisco.

Given a free drive by way of an interception, Patrick Mahomes continued to be aggressive, throwing deep to Sammy Watkins for a 28-yard gain to start the drive and converting a fourth down with an option toss to Damien Williams. But the Chiefs had to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Harrison Butker, which put them ahead by 10-3.

The three plays after the Watkins catch combined for only 9 yards, but the Chiefs, for a second consecutive drive, didn’t let fourth down scare them. Mahomes raced to the sideline before tossing the ball to Williams for a 3-yard gain and the conversion. That was it, however, as two incomplete passes and a short run resulted in a 4th-and-7 at San Francisco’s 13-yard line, which sent out the field goal unit.

The Chiefs are suddenly in terrific shape to start the second quarter after getting the ball back to its offense by way of an interception.

After Deebo Samuel opened the quarter with a short loss on a run, Mike Pennell pressured Jimmy Garoppolo into an ill-advised pass, and cornerback Bashaud Breeland made Garoppolo pay for it by leaping up for an interception.

Kansas City will begin its drive on its own 44-yard line.

Ken Belson clears it up:

In an ad for the streaming service Hulu, Tom Brady mocked the concern about his future — which he stoked last week with a cryptic post to his social media accounts. Hulu leaned into the worries.

Brady can become a free agent next month for the first time in his long career. Patriots fans may fear the worst, with Brady reportedly garnering interest from the Raiders and Chargers. But one thing appears certain: Nobody should be surprised if Brady is playing football next season.

“They say all good things must come to an end,” Brady said Sunday’s ad while walking into Gillette Stadium, the home of the Patriots. “So it’s time to say goodbye as TV as we know it.”

Cue anxiety.

“But me? I’m not going anywhere.”

The first quarter ended after Jimmy Garoppolo had begun his team’s latest drive with an 18-yard pass to Emmanuel Sanders that got San Francisco to their own 43-yard line.

There were not many surprises in the opening quarter, with San Francisco moving the ball well on the ground and Kansas City surviving a few passes from Patrick Mahomes that missed their mark thanks to a surprising start from Damien Williams, who already has 32 rushing yards.

The game has yet to have a turnover and the Chiefs have a mild advantage in time of possession: 8:31 to 6:29.

Showing a quick burst with his legs, Patrick Mahomes ran the ball in from 1 yard, putting Kansas City ahead, 7-3, with 31 seconds left in the first quarter.

The drive had been extended thanks to the Chiefs’ showing some aggressiveness on fourth down, going for it on 4th-and-1 from the San Francisco 5-yard line with a direct snap run to Damien Williams. Mahomes’s touchdown run was the prize for that decision.

Over and over on the drive, Mahomes got the Chiefs most of the way to a first down with a pass, and Damien Williams picked up the rest of the yardage with a run.

Once Kansas City got into the red zone, San Francisco got its first sack of the game, with DeForest Buckner and Earl Mitchell tracking Mahomes down for a 1-yard loss.

Two plays later, when no options presented themselves, Mahomes raced up the right side of the field for a 10-yard gain, fumbling the ball out of bounds at the end of the play thanks to a huge hit by Jimmie Ward, who was briefly injured on the play.

It looked like Ward’s hit, which stopped Mahomes just short of a first down, had forced Kansas City to settle for a field goal, but after Coach Andy Reid had a change of heart, pulling his kicking team off the field, the Chiefs got their first lead of the day.

The longest play of the 75-yard drive went for just 14 yards.

From Kevin Draper, who is seeing the same thing you’re seeing:

If you think there is a flag being thrown on every 49ers offensive possession, well, you’re not alone, as a number of Chiefs defensive players are wearing bright yellow gloves. They aren’t new for the Super Bowl; players like Tyrann Mathieu and Jason Kelce have worn them all season, as have players on a number of other teams. There doesn’t seem to be any football reasons for the color, just fashion ones.

Robbie Gould’s 38-yard field goal has the 49ers ahead, 3-0, with 7:57 left in the first quarter.

The 49ers had got exactly the start they wanted to open their first drive, before eventually stalling out.

After a run to start the drive went for a 1-yard loss, George Kittle picked up a first down with an 11-yard catch.

That got the Chiefs on their heels, which set up one of San Francisco’s signature deceptive running plays. The ball was pitched to wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who took the ball on a sweep and raced down the sideline for a 32-yard gain.

After a few runs by Tevin Coleman, who is back after dislocating his shoulder in the N.F.C. championship game, they ran another deception play, with Samuel looking to pass before running up the middle for a first down.

The drive was extended after a dropped third-down pass thanks to Frank Clark’s being whistled for offside, but it ultimately stalled out, ending in Gould’s field goal.

San Francisco went 62 yards on 10 plays and took 5:58 off the clock.

Kansas City’s first drive went nowhere, and the 49ers officially look brilliant for deferring on the kickoff.

After Mitch Wishnowsky’s kickoff was returned 29 yards by Mecole Hardman, Kansas City started its first drive of the game at their own 26-yard line.

They started off well with a 7-yard run by Damien Williams, but Patrick Mahomes then threw two incomplete passes, resulting in a three-and-out.

San Francisco won the coin toss with Richard Sherman’s call of tails and the team deferred the choice. As a result, Kansas City will start with the ball and will defend the west end zone. (That directional makes more sense if you’re in the stadium but you’ll get the hang of it.)

The 49ers will receive the ball to start the second half.

Kickoff is expected at 6:39 p.m. Eastern.

The singer Demi Lovato performed a stirring version of the national anthem, drawing huge cheers in Hard Rock Stadium, and if people bet on the length, it appeared to come in around 1 minute 50 seconds.

The wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson handled introductions for both teams, skipping past listing every name and just going with the stars. But Johnson, who was known as the People’s Champion in his W.W.E. career, gave a special shoutout to George Kittle of the 49ers, whom he referred to as “the People’s tight end.”

During the week, Kittle talked repeatedly about the thrill of meeting Johnson when they worked on the planning and filming of the introductions, saying his “heart was racing” when he found himself “chest to chest” with his favorite wrestler.

Kittle’s love of wrestling runs deep. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, one of Kittle’s best friends on the team, said he would not be surprised if Kittle retires to a career in professional wrestling some day.

From Kevin Draper:

The Chiefs should feel at home here in South Florida, as the Super Bowl crowd is overwhelmingly pro-Kansas City. Every time a Chiefs player entered the field for pregame warm-ups the crowd roared. The 49ers — with the exception of Jerry Rice when he was announced as part of the NFL 100 team — were greeted with boos. (Bill Belichick got more boos than anyone, but that’s hardly a surprise in Miami.)

Walking around the stadium concourse, Patrick Mahomes jerseys dominated, though there also is a sizable Travis Kelce contingent. San Francisco fans are primarily wearing Jimmy Garoppolo’s No. 10 and Nick Bosa’s No. 97.

Vivid Seats, an online ticket marketplace, estimated the crowd would be 63 percent Chiefs fans to 37 percent 49ers fans, but in the stadium it certainly seems more pro-Kansas City than that.

Though it can be difficult to tell visually because both teams wear red.

To honor Kobe Bryant, the basketball legend who died along with eight others in a helicopter crash last week, the players for both the 49ers and the Chiefs lined up on the 24-yard lines and took part in a moment of silence shortly before 6 p.m. at Hard Rock Stadium. The 24 was a reference to one of Bryant’s jersey numbers.

Bryant’s imprint on players — particularly San Francisco’s Richard Sherman — was apparent all week, as many reflected on what Bryant’s so-called Mamba Mentality had meant to them and how his death had affected them.

Sherman, who first met Bryant at a Nike photo shoot during Sherman’s time with the Seattle Seahawks, arrived at the stadium today wearing Bryant’s No. 8 jersey from the 2004 N.B.A. All-Star game. Bryant wore No. 8 for 11 of his N.B.A. seasons and No. 24 for 9.

“He was a friend of mine,” Sherman said at Monday’s Super Bowl Opening Night event. “He was a mentor. He meant a lot to this world. He had a positive impact and there’s nothing that I can say that can quantify his impact on myself and others.”

While many players discussed Bryant as a role model for them, Sherman’s connection ran deeper, based on their friendship. Sherman described Bryant’s influence as having affected a decision he made at the lowest point of his career.

“I guess my biggest Mamba Mentality moment of my career was getting up from a torn Achilles and walking off the field,” Sherman said. “I saw him do it. I saw him make two free throws and walk off with a torn Achilles, and once I tore mine, I knew I had to walk off.”

In announcing the moment of silence, the N.F.L. also dedicated it to the Pro Football Hall of Famer Chris Doleman, who died on Tuesday.

If the 49ers build a big lead in today’s game, do not expect San Francisco Coach Kyle Shanahan to let up for a second. The “scars” of a collapse in which one of his former teams, the Atlanta Falcons, gave up a 28-3 fourth quarter lead to lose a Super Bowl still linger

Both he and his players described a certain level of paranoia about finishing games well, which Shanahan freely admitted was a result of the Falcons’ having blown such an enormous lead against the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl that followed the 2016 season — the last season before Shanahan joined the 49ers.

“I think anyone can learn a lot of stuff from that game,” Shanahan said. “I mean, no matter how much you get up on someone, you’ve got to keep moving the chains to keep the ball from going back.”

Shanahan said at the end of his team’s 27-10 divisional round win over Minnesota he “freaked out” because Robert Saleh, his defensive coordinator, had pulled his starters with a 17-point lead in the final two minutes.

“Oh my god, he almost killed us,” said Richard Sherman, San Francisco’s veteran cornerback.

Sherman said the Vikings had completed two passes and converted one first down when Shanahan had seen enough.

“He was like: ‘What the heck is going on? Get them back in there,’” Sherman said. “My gloves were off, I was about to ice my knees, and it was like, ‘Get your gloves back on.’”

Jimmy Garoppolo, the 49ers’ starting quarterback — and a backup on the New England team that came back to beat Shanahan’s Falcons — did not see anything odd about his coach’s unwillingness to let that happen again.

“I think that’s just a good head coach,” he said. “You kind of want to have that because in this league crazy things can happen. I mean, 28-3, we all saw that one. You always have to be ready, so I like that mentality.”

From a Fox Sports executive:

The Chiefs are officially sticking with Damien Williams at running back, with the veteran LeSean McCoy headlining Kansas City’s list of inactive players for today’s game.

McCoy, a six-time Pro Bowler, gained just 465 yards in his first season in Kansas City. Coach Andy Reid repeatedly said his team had no injuries to report this week, but McCoy, who was rested even when healthy during the regular season, is being left out of what would have been his first Super Bowl.

While not surprising, the most significant inactive for Kansas City is guard Andrew Wylie, who has not played since Week 15 because of ankle and shoulder injuries. Steven Wisniewski will continue to fill in as the team’s starting left guard.

The 49ers’ list of inactives is mostly bench players, with wide receiver Dante Pettis being the most prominent player who will not be suiting up.

Tiffany Hsu of The Times wrote about the commercial onslaught we can expect today:

More than 80 ads will play in the commercial breaks of today’s game, including campaign spots from a billionaire president and a billionaire presidential candidate, safe humor and visual gags from T-Mobile and Reese’s, and flashbacks to the 1980s (MC Hammer, Molly Ringwald and Winona Ryder all make appearances).

The commercials will hit the usual beats, with a tear-jerker from Google, a jumble of celebrities from Hard Rock and a cute dog named Scout from WeatherTech. But there will also be several firsts, including a debut from Facebook featuring Chris Rock and Sylvester Stallone. A spot from Sabra hummus most likely has the first appearance of drag queens in a Super Bowl commercial, in a banner year for L.G.B.T. representation.

Other notable ads will include a spot from the N.F.L. about police shootings, a subject it has struggled to address amid protests in recent years by the former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Cup, given to the first pro football champions, is the holy grail of American sports memorabilia. It’s also missing, and has been since almost as soon as it was awarded to the Akron Pros in 1920.

Bill Pennington of The Times spent months trying to track it down. He writes:

It could be in someone’s attic or chock-full of pencils on a schoolkid’s desk.

“At this point, the chances are not very good that anyone will ever find it,” Joe Horrigan, the former longtime executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

It sounded like a challenge.

And so began the mission to solve this whodunit, this where-is-it, a quest that hinged on finding that person who, when shown the only existing, shadowy photo of the trophy, would say: “I’ve seen that. My mother uses it as a doorstop.”

It was a journey that meant knocking on doors, poring over library collections, tracking down interview subjects in 12 states and spending at least one dusty afternoon searching behind the drywall of several abandoned Ohio buildings.

Bill’s article on the search is quite a tale. You’ll love it.

The N.F.L. has frequently faced criticism for its inability to elevate people of color to head coaching positions, and the league’s Rooney Rule has often been described as insufficient. Currently there are only four head coaches of color in the league, a list that might have grown longer if two high-profile coordinators had not been so busy coaching this game.

While Eric Bieniemy, the offensive coordinator of the Chiefs, and Robert Saleh, the defensive coordinator of the 49ers, were both mentioned as top candidates for nearly every head coaching vacancy, they were both left standing once all the seats were filled. Of the five jobs that changed hands, only one went to a person of color: Ron Rivera, who is Hispanic, was hired by the Washington Redskins.

With no remaining vacancies, Bieniemy, who is black, and Saleh, who is Arab-American, probably will have to wait another year for their first head-coaching jobs. That has caused mixed feelings for the people they work with.

Coach Andy Reid of the Chiefs said that he is Bieniemy’s biggest fan, and that he already considers his protégé to be a head coach.

“I really don’t think he needs to work on anything to become a head football coach,” Reid said. “I think he’s ready to go. He just needs that opportunity to get in and go.”

John Lynch, the general manager of the 49ers, expressed similar sentiments about Saleh, who won a Super Bowl as a quality control coach with Seattle on his way through the coaching ranks before rising to defensive coordinator with San Francisco in 2017.

“There’s a side of you that is disappointed for a friend,” Lynch said. “There is a side of you that’s like: ‘Yes! We get him for another year!’”

George Kittle, the 49ers’ third-year tight end, seems to save his best work for overmatched players in the opposing team’s secondary. And he admits that is by design.

Kittle’s most important play against a defensive back this season came in Week 14, when he dragged his team into range for a winning field goal against the New Orleans Saints despite Marcus Williams, a safety, hanging on for dear life from Kittle’s face mask. But Kittle’s most fun play of the season — at least from his perspective — came during a Week 15 loss to the Atlanta Falcons when he demolished a cornerback on a goal-line run — and was filmed laughing maniacally while rolling around in the end zone.

It was a scoreless game early in the second quarter when the 49ers lined up at Atlanta’s 2-yard line for a running play and Kittle, who stands 6 feet 4 inches and weighs 250 pounds, saw that the only player in front of him was Ricardo Allen, a 5-9, 186-pound cornerback. Kittle said defensive backs often take cheap shots at larger players in the open field, but that this situation gave an enormous advantage to the offensive player.

“I’m in a 3-point stance and I know it’s a run play,” Kittle said, recalling the moment before the snap. “He’s going to get absolutely all of my effort on a run play, and he doesn’t know if it’s a pass or a run and he doesn’t know if he needs to be physical with me.”

Kittle said his laughter was the result of thinking about how much fun it would be to watch film of the play. He described what happened — what’s know as a pancake block — as the “best possible feeling in football.”

As Kittle, a huge fan of professional wrestling and one of the game’s more boisterous characters told Ben Shpigel for a story about the 49ers’ running game: “You take a guy, you drive him backward, you put him on his back and you feel the exhale of his breath and he loses his wind. It’s kind of snatching his soul.”

The Chiefs’ defense went through a drastic makeover last off-season. Justin Houston left via free agency, Dee Ford was traded to San Francisco, Eric Berry was out of football — yet Kansas City’s defense showed significant improvement.

The biggest reason for the uptick was Tyrann Mathieu, the All-Pro safety known to many fans as the Honey Badger.

Mathieu earned that nickname during his time at Louisiana State for his wild demeanor on and off the field, but this past week he expressed some unease with the persona.

“I feel like I got caught up in that Honey Badger character and it began to consume me,” he said.

A calmer, gentler, more mature Mathieu was all over the field in his first season in Kansas City, piling up 70 tackles, four interceptions and two sacks while being named first-time All-Pro for the second time. His ability to contribute against the run and the pass helped paper over some of his team’s defensive shortcomings.

Coach Andy Reid said Mathieu was everything the team wanted and more, describing the seven-year veteran as a great leader, while acknowledging that the Honey Badger character was not entirely gone.

“We just unlock the cage and let the Badger out on game day,” Reid joked. “He loves playing, man. I mean he brings it every play. He does it in practice. He does it in the game. He’s fun to be around.”

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Tyrann Mathieu. Jimmy Garoppolo, Raheem Mostert, George Kittle and Nick Bosa. In a Super Bowl that is predicted by oddsmakers to be among the closest in league history, there is no shortage of stars who may reach the next level of fame by leading their team to an N.F.L. championship today.

While the game is not quite the offense versus defense narrative that some have tried to sell — San Francisco actually scored more points than Kansas City this season, and the Chiefs allowed fewer than the 49ers — it is still a fascinating matchup of the 49ers, a team that built itself on a well-balanced attack on both sides of the ball, and the Chiefs, who have tried to find the right complementary pieces to give Mahomes, their star quarterback, the support he needs to realize his sky-high potential.

The story lines in this game are plentiful and have led to a collective shrug about which team is actually the underdog. Officially, the Chiefs are favored by either 1 or 1.5 points, depending on where you look.

Kansas City, which played in two of the first four Super Bowls, is back in the game for the first time since Len Dawson led the Chiefs to a win over the Minnesota Vikings after the 1969 season. The team’s 50-year gap between appearances set a record, and it was largely defined by the franchise’s inability to find a quarterback. The Chiefs used a first-round pick on the game’s most important position only four times in that 50 years, failing badly with Pete Beathard (1964), Steve Fuller (1976) and Todd Blackledge (1983) before finally scoring with Mahomes in 2017.

The 49ers, who built a dynasty with Joe Montana in the 1980s, had it continue seamlessly with Steve Young in the 1990s, and briefly appeared to have found a next-generation quarterback in Colin Kaepernick in the 2010s, appeared in six Super Bowls in those 50 years, winning five of them. And they became something of a quarterback factory for the Chiefs, with Steve DeBerg, Montana, Steve Bono, Elvis Grbac and Alex Smith all starting in San Francisco before ending up in Kansas City.

As ridiculous as that quarterback connection is, it may be trumped by the parallels between the starting left tackles in today’s game. San Francisco’s Joe Staley and Kansas City’s Eric Fisher were both first-round picks out of Central Michigan — the only first-round picks in Chippewa history — and they both went through radical physical and positional transformations in college, gaining 75 pounds or more to get ready to compete at the pro level.

Both teams feature All-Pro tight ends in George Kittle (San Francisco) and Travis Kelce (Kansas City), and both defenses have wildly talented veteran leaders in their secondary in Richard Sherman (San Francisco) and Mathieu.

The places where they differ are quarterback, where Mahomes is a much more explosive player than Garoppolo, and defensive line, where San Francisco’s gaggle of five former first-round picks, led by a dominant rookie in Bosa, is more ferocious than anything Kansas City’s defense can offer.

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