For a while there that Super Bowl seemed to be lacking something. A bit of star power, perhaps. After all it was the first Super Bowl since 2013 that didn’t feature either Tom Brady or Peyton Manning holding it down for the Future Hall of Famers Club. Which ain’t to say that the game lacked top notch players (or even Future HoFers) because it was absolutely stacked, there were heroes all over the show and these were the two best teams all season... but they’re also a couple teams early on in their championship windows. Those windows tend to close quicker than anyone can anticipate but that’s a whole other story. The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers are both full of excellent young players, both extremely well coached, both deserving of the moment. Super Bowl LIV was poised as a baptism of glory for whichever team could take control.

So as the teams sorta stuttered in the opening two quarters, each coughing up turnovers, it was almost a bit of a let down. Nick Bosa was making the most of his time in the spotlight for sure. A couple others on that San Francisco 49ers defensive line too. But Pat Mahomes seemed strangely off target. George Kittle wasn’t getting a lot of ball in his hands. Raheem Mostert had a couple nice runs but nothing dramatic. Thankfully then Shakira and Jennifer Lopez showed up and gave a clinic on how to own the moment and then the second half, with the finishing line in sight, gave us all that we were waiting for.

Initially it was the Niners doing what they’d done so well all season. A bit of a rough call on Kittle just before the half for offensive pass interference (it looked kinda fair enough to me but having said that they almost never call those so extremely hard done by) had stopped them from taking a lead into the break but coming out of it they steadily drove down the field in nine plays, none of more than 15 yards, to kick the field goal they missed out on for the OPI flag. At this point I’m wondering if they’ll rue not being able to convert in the red zone a couple times but while I’m wondering on that one the Niners go and pick off Mahomes on 3rd & 12 in his own half and within three minutes they were in the endzone, leading 20-10. Mahomes and the Chiefs then spent more than five and a half minutes on a desperate drive, scrapping for every yard, before this happened and it was danger time for the folks of Kansas City (Kansas City, not Kansas State)...

You know what happened next. The Chiefs got the stop and then Patrick Mahomes took over, the game swinging in momentum on a 44yd completion to Tyreek Hill. They’d score three more times and win the game by 11 points despite trailing by double digits with less than seven minutes remaining. It was special. It was incredible. It was exactly what they’ve been doing all playoffs, winning each of their three games by at least 11 points despite trailing by double digits in all of them. No lead is safe when Patrick Mahomes is on the other team. That man, coming off an MVP award last season and now winning the title and Super Bowl MVP all before he turns 25... he’s the best there is right now. The thought of Mahomes vs Lamar Jackson in the AFC for the next decade, God willing, is a good as it gets.

No great comeback happens without an equal and opposite collapse though so here’s every play that the Niners ran in the fourth quarter:

• (1st & 10) Mostert rushes for 6 yards

• (2nd & 4) Garoppolo to Kittle for 12 yards

• (1st & 10) Mostert rushes for 1 yard

• (2nd & 9) Garoppolo incomplete

• (3rd & 9) False start for -5 yards

• (3rd & 14) Garropolo rushes for 3 yards

• (4th & 11) Punt – Leading 20-10 with 8:53 remaining

• (1st & 10) Mostert rushes for 5 yards

• (2nd & 5) Garoppolo incomplete

• (3rd & 5) Garoppolo incomplete

• (4th & 5) Punt – Leading 20-17 with 5:10 remaining

• (1st & 10) Mostert rushes for 17 yards

• (1st & 10) False start for -5 yards

• (1st & 15) Garoppolo to Kittle for 8 yards

• (2nd & 7) Garoppoli to Bourne for 16 yards

• (1st & 10) Garoppolo incomplete

• (2nd & 10) Garoppolo incomplete

• (3rd & 10) Garoppolo incomplete

• (4th & 10) Garoppolo sacked for -9 yards - Trailing 24-20 with 1:25 remaining

• (1st & 10) Garoppolo incomplete

• (2nd & 10) Garoppolo intercepted - Trailing 31-20 with 0:57 remaining

It’s a fair jab to say that they went away from the run considering they only ran Raheem Mostert on first downs in that quarter... but I dunno that it’s why they lost. They didn’t take much time off the clock but look how quickly the Chiefs went boom. No amount of realistic time wasting was gonna do it so the best thing to do was exactly what Kyle Shanahan said they were trying to do: get first downs. For that same reason it’s too much of a leap to blame Shanahan just because it fits into an easy narrative after he offensive coordinator-ed his way to a famous blown lead with the Atlanta Falcons a couple years back.

Nah, they just didn’t have the quarterback. Simple as that. Jimmy Garoppolo might get there but he’s not there yet and those differences are only exaggerated against the very best in the business. When the Chiefs absolutely needed leadership and yardage, they got it from Pat Mahomes. When the Niners needed the same... it wasn’t there.

But Patrick Mahomes is on a whole other level so even then you’ve sorta just gotta cop it if you’re a Niners fan. It stings like nothing else to get that close to a championship and then be left having to accept that it wasn’t to be. Blackcaps fans know what’s up. Sometimes it’s not even something that your team did wrong, it’s just cruel twists of fate and a thousand little things, the likes of which happen in every single game and you can’t give any more relevance to one instead over another. Even NFL plays don’t happen indiscriminate of each other. It’s all connected. The ups and the downs.

Which swings all the way back around to that first half thought because there’ll never be any lack of star power in a game in which Pat Mahomes is playing ever again. Greatness can be quick to see but slow to truly acknowledge. The hot take hype culture in the NFL rewards the temporary, meaning that all truths are a bad day away from being lies. It takes something excessive to supersede that and reach that undeniable fact status but what Pat Mahomes has achieved in his first two years as an NFL starter is definitely excessive and it’s definitely an undeniable fact. I’d say he’s changing the way the game itself is played except I’m not really sure anybody else is capable of what he does almost every week.

Timely, too. The extended careers of guys like Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and maybe even Philip Rivers have created a vacuum in the quarterback position, stunningly Aaron Rodgers is 36 years old now. Those guys (well, apart from Rivers) basically stunted the growth of the next generation by beating their arses over and over again. It’s really only Russell Wilson who has consistently challenged (and thus joined) that tier of dudes. Cam Newton and Matt Ryan have won MVPs but haven’t maintained that level year on year. Kirk Cousins is Kirk Cousins. Matthew Stafford’s career arc is all sorts of weird. Ryan Tannehill waited until he was 31 years old to finally have a breakthrough season. It definitely ain’t Andy Dalton, who had the worst passer rating of any qualified player this season. And those are the best of the guys in that peak quarterback range of 28-34 years old.

But coming up fast behind them are a number of younger guys whose peak years are gonna coincide with the post-Brady, post-Brees, post-Rodgers era of the NFL. Many of them African-Americans too. Lamar Jackson is the reigning MVP at just 22 years of age. Deshaun Watson and Dak Prescott are playoff winners on teams which might have gone even further but for average coaching. Taking a step down and Jacoby Brissett is capable of taking his game a lot further. I s’pose I’d better chuck in Carson Wentz here just in case, while I’ve even got high potential upsides for guys like Kyler Murray, Sam Darnold, and Gardner Minshew presuming they can find the right environment (which is a huuuuuge asterisk).

All those guys though, even Lamar Jackson for at least one more year, are walking in the shadow of the generational king that is Pat Mahomes. He is now their leader. In two seasons he’s won the greatest individual honour and the greatest team honour. Super Bowl 54 will be remembered for a lot of things. For Andy Reid’s long awaited championship – he’s now the coach with the most wins prior to his first Super Bowl and it’s not even close. For Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy G letting it slip. For the half-time show. For Trump’s idiotic tweet. For Nick Bosa’s rookie campaign and that Niners defensive line. Of course for that incredible comeback. But most of all it’ll be remember for Patrick Lavon Mahomes. Long may he reign.

Get in on that sweet Patreon action so we can afford to keep growing TNC to new heights

Also whack an ad if you appreciated the read, sweet as

Keep cool but care