Super Bowl: Second-biggest winner after Philly — Tom Brady's legacy

Yahoo

10-02-2025

NEW ORLEANS — Cooper Dejean picked Patrick Mahomes off in stride, a perfect break on a terribly imperfect pass over the middle. 'The kid made a great play on it,' Mahomes said later.
Now the Philadelphia defensive back was slaloming through Kansas City Chiefs en route to the end zone, Mahomes proving to be the final, fruitless attempt to stop him.
Philly's defense had already taken over this Super Bowl (Josh Sweat had just gotten in on consecutive sacks on consecutive plays). Now reality was hitting like a wrecking ball against a house of cards.
The rout was on: a 40-22 Super Bowl annihilation that wasn't as close as the score would indicate. Kansas City had no hope.
Beat your ass … and hide the Bible.
Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop.
Philly was the big winner here Sunday. It was a three-plus hour party for the Eagles-heavy crowd to celebrate a ferocious defense and aggressive offense that avenged a Super Bowl defeat to the Chiefs two years ago.
The second-biggest winner?
The legacy of Tom Brady, the man providing color commentary for Fox as Mahomes, the game's best active quarterback, struggled with two interceptions and a lost fumble that led to 17 Eagles points.
'Obviously the turnovers hurt,' Mahomes said. 'I take all the blame for that. Those early turnovers swung the momentum of the game and they capitalized on them. They scored on the one and then got a touchdown immediately after. That's 14 points I kind of gave them. It's hard to come back from that in the Super Bowl.'
With Mahomes, fair or not, almost everything is framed in his pursuit of Brady and the title of Greatest of All Time. This was supposed to be another step in that direction, perhaps the inevitable march to exceeding Brady's seven Super Bowl rings (six in New England, one with Tampa Bay).
Instead Mahomes stayed stalled on three – albeit at just 29 years old. Worse though, he was part of a nightmare of a game for the Chiefs, the kind of blowout Super Bowl loss that Brady never experienced. Brady's three championship game defeats came by a combined 15 points. In one of them he threw for 505 yards.
No, this wasn't all Mahomes' fault. It was anything but his fault. His offensive line couldn't stop Sweat (2.5 sacks), Milton Williams (two of his own), Jordan Davis (one) and Jalen Carter (a couple QB hits).
His running backs combined for 24 yards. His receivers dropped passes all over the field. He had no help, often running for his life (such as on the Dejean pick).
Still, if quarterbacks get the credit for team victories, they can take some hits for a team loss. Mahomes didn't shy away from it. His second pick came when he was bumped by the pass rush but … 'got to find a way to make the throw,' he said.
Mahomes finished 21 of 32 for 257 yards and three touchdowns, but 10 of those completions, two of those touchdowns and 109 of those yards came on the final two drives, when the game was long over.
More notable were the six sacks taken, the two interceptions and the fumble lost. The first half with just 23 total yards on 20 plays. The six punts and one turnover on downs. The fact that deep into the third quarter there was a chance K.C. could be the first team to be shut out in the Super Bowl. Or when the scoreboard read 40-6.
Brady faced some menacing defenses in his Super Bowls – particularly in losses to the New York Giants. It was never a disaster like this though.
'I just didn't play to my standard,' Mahomes said. 'I have to be better next time.'
When Brady did have his own first half meltdown – including a pick 6 – against Atlanta, he rallied New England from a 28-3 hole for the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. For the Chiefs on Sunday, it just kept getting worse and worse.
This is how the GOAT debate gets settled and it is a credit to Mahomes that he is dead in the middle of it. It reminds of Tiger Woods trying to chase down Jack Nicklaus – the true greats play against the generations.
Especially on this stage, where each mistake is magnified. Mahomes has been brilliant in getting Kansas City here; this is his fifth Super Bowl in six seasons. Yet some of the team's core is aging and while the Chiefs have made it look easy, it isn't.
Brady won three titles in his first four seasons as a starter. Then he didn't get another for a decade. Mahomes knows how precious the chances are, and how small the window is.
'Any time you lose the Super Bowl, it's the worst feeling in the world,' Mahomes said. 'It will stick with you for the rest of your career. You need to capitalize on these … Now it's how do you respond? Hopefully we can learn from this like the last loss (to Brady's Bucs) that we had and continue to get better … to make hopefully another run at the Super Bowl.'
He'll almost certainly be back, but for now, after this, the argument for Brady is still intact, and actually a bit wider than before.