THIS DAY IN SPORTS: Reid, Mahomes and KC’s super rally

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This Day In Sports…February 2, 2020:

The Kansas City Chiefs win their first Super Bowl in 50 years, rallying for a 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Miami. The 49ers, seeking their first championship in 25 years, led 20-10 midway through the fourth quarter. It was then that quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs erupted, scoring 21 points in the final 6:13 of the game. Mahomes threw for 286 yards and two touchdowns. And despite two interceptions, he became the youngest QB ever to win Super Bowl MVP honors at the age of 24.

The 49ers had trailed 10-3 in the second quarter before scoring 17 straight points on two Robbie Gould field goals and a 15-yard Jimmy Garoppolo touchdown pass to Kyle Juszczyk. But the Chiefs put their foot on the gas just when the Niners’ tank started to empty. Mahomes connected with Tyreek Hill for 44 yards on a 3rd-and-15 to set up a one-yard TD throw to Travis Kelce. Then Mahomes hit Sammy Watkins with a 38-yard bomb, and Kansas City retook the lead on a five-yard touchdown pass to Damien Williams with 2½ minutes left.

Trailing 24-20, Garoppolo got the 49ers to the Chiefs’ 49-yard line on the ensuing drive. On third-and-10, he had wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders open on a deep post route but overthrew him, missing out on a chance at the go-ahead TD. San Francisco had all three timeouts remaining but went for it on fourth down as the clock was showing less than a minute and a half to play. Garoppolo was sacked for a nine-yard loss.

When Williams broke free on a 38-yard TD run with 1:12 remaining, it clinched the crown jewel of Andy Reid’s NFL coaching career. Reid was in his eighth season in Kansas City after 14 years as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. He had a Super Bowl ring as tight ends coach of the 1996 Green Bay Packers, and he lost to New England with the Eagles in Super Bowl 39 after the 2004 season. Reid finally had a head coach’s ring. And since then, he’s guided KC to two more Lombardi Trophies in Super Bowls 57 and 58. Reid will be 68 years old in March, but he’s still tickin’.

Kansas City had last won the Super Bowl in 1970 (following the 1969 season), the final title before the full merger of the AFL and the NFL. The Chiefs, then the Dallas Texans, were one of the eight original AFL franchises in 1960. And the team’s owner, Lamar Hunt, was the one who suggested the name “Super Bowl” after the event began as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game in 1967.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)