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 Patrick I, Randi and Patrick II Mahomes  

MOUNT ROYAL – Bud Grant had Fran Tarkenton. Marv Levy had Jim Kelly. Bill Walsh had Joe Montana. Bill Belichick had Tom Brady and, now, Andy Reid has Patrick Mahomes.

A couple of those pairings never produced an NFL Super Bowl Champion, but together those five coach-player pairings did produce a lot of football wins during the course of gridiron history. My point is simply that in the world of pro football or pro sports in general, the great coaches of our time always had a really great player with them and vice-versa.

Tonight I got to see one of those pairs in action once again. I know that before the big game this evening I had opined that I wasn't sure how this game would go. I'm not a big fan of either team, but there are some players and coaches who demand attention and respect, even if you don't pull for them, and Reid and Mahomes certainly fit that bill.

If I was searching for a little bit of sentimentality I could easily find that in cheering for Mahomes. It was only a short 30 years back that his father, Patrick Mahomes I, was gracing a pitcher's mound for my beloved Minnesota Twins.

Several observers have stated that Patrick Mahomes II had that pro-athlete gene in him. He was as good at baseball and basketball as he was at football. 

As for Coach Reid he is just a very likable guy. I have observed him on NFL sidelines for what now seems to be forever, and he is a great coach and as unflappable as they come. Reid was destined to be a coach I believe. He wasn't a great amateur player but did make his way onto the same college team (BYU) as future Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon.

He was set to try his hand at sports journalism but his college coach Lavelle Edwards told him he thought he might have a future in coaching. He began as a Grad assistant at his alma mater in 1982 and went from there. He won his fourth ring tonight which includes one as an assistant with the Green Bay Packers and three as a head coach.  

As for the game this eve, it had every bit of drama a sports fan could hope for. If you are a fan of either club it probably had a bit more than you would have preferred, but if you were behind the winning team, you will never forget this game. It was intense. In overtime, the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco Forty Niners in an epic nail-biting thriller 25-22.

It can no longer be denied that the Chiefs have worked their way into "dynasty" status. They have appeared in four of the last five Super Bowls, winning three of them and are the first team to repeat as Champs since the New England Patriots did so in February of 2005. (2004 season)  

In the lead-up to the game Vegas oddsmakers had originally installed the Niners as a 1.5-point favorite to win. As the week went forward that was expanded to them being a full two-point favorite. The over-under was set at 47.5 points.

Each year my cousin hosts a viewing party for the big game and has a points game for all attendees. You throw five bucks in the pot and put your initials on a slip of paper along with what you believe the total points will be without going over. The winner goes home with the jackpot.  

Most everyone had totals ranging from the upper forties to the mid-fifties. I had the total points at 54. After a scoreless first quarter and then a 13-point second quarter, most of the halftime talk was about the possibility of this ending up a defensive struggle of a game that wouldn't break 30 points total. There was only one guest who had made a pick below 30 points, but if the game had ended with a total above that, he would not win the jackpot.  

The Chiefs came out and put up a 10-point third quarter to eke ahead on the scoreboard. San Fran would come back with an early fourth-quarter touchdown but missed the extra point via deflection. The Chiefs would pull even on a field goal at 16 points each. The two clubs would trade field goals within the last two minutes to send this tilt to the extra frame.  

The Niners won the toss, took the ball and went on a drive that ended with a Jake Moody field goal to put the Niners in front by three. So, do you like danger? Have you ever seen the video clips where the lion is charging the unarmed tourist? Or the shark racing towards its victim so fast you couldn't bear to watch?

Or how about Pat Mahomes with the ball in overtime with something big on the line? It's nothing less than sheer terror. The only way you can escape it is if you are a neutral observer. You know someone is about to be hurt, you are glad it won't be you.  

So Mahomes and company took the ensuing kickoff and began their championship march. It wasn't without challenges. The Chiefs had to overcome a 4th & 1. And then a 3rd & 6. On a key 3rd & 1 Mahomes took the ball for a 19-yard gain and it was at that moment that I sensed that the group that had dominated much of the game, the San Fran defense, finally looked like they were sucking air.  

On a 2nd & 7 Mahomes connected on a pass to tight end Travis Kelce who dragged about a third of the Niner defense with him to the three-yard line. On the very next play Mahomes passed to a wide-open Mecole Hardman who turned and took it in for the winning score and the party was on, bedlam was in full force. The Niners didn't appear to know what had just hit them and ran over their title aspirations.

Even a few hours after this tilt has been over I am still in awe at what had unfolded within that last drive. The Chiefs weren't going to be stopped. There was little that the Niners could do. A true champion had just played yo-yo with them for five quarters of top-level football.  

I was happy for the Chiefs but also had empathy for the Niners. Losing a game of that stature never really goes away. As the saying goes, they'll be reliving this one for a long time to come.    

I viewed a bit of the postgame celebration and then my thoughts turned to the Vikings briefly. How would they have done on this field tonight? Or is that the pipedream that I think it is? The purple reality is that the Vikings, in my opinion are nowhere near being at the level of either of tonight's participants. In fact, they seem to be kind of a mess right now.  

While I like the coach of the team, the GM is an uncertainty in my book. And the quarterback position has more question marks attached to it than the Riddlers outfit in the old Batman TV series. Yikes! PEACE