Super Bowl LIV: With Patrick Mahomes and this defense, the Chiefs are set up to win the Super Bowl again soon

MIAMI

Patrick Mahomes did what just about every other Super Bowl MVP does the morning after winning the championship. Not even 12 hours after the quarterback put on a spectacular fourth-quarter comeback in winning his first Vince Lombardi Trophy, he talked about doing it again.

“Win another one,” Mahomes said during Monday morning’s MVP news conference about what lies ahead. “That’s it.”  

The glow of a Super Bowl championship is an all-powerful one, a light so bright that the thought of getting back to win another is irresistible. The reality is, however, that the vast majority of teams that win the Super Bowl one year won’t do it the next. Only three teams have been repeat winners since 1990: the 1992-93 Cowboys, the 1997-98 Broncos and the 2003-04 Patriots.

So yes, the odds that the Chiefs will put together another Super Bowl run after the 2020 season are against them. That said, it is not unreasonable to believe that the Andy Reid-Mahomes partnership will be back here again. And maybe again and again.

Mahomes might be the most gifted young quarterback the NFL has ever seen — which is saying a lot, given how many brilliant young passers have given us so many thrills in the celebrated history of this league. He’s only 24 years old and already has a regular-season MVP and a Super Bowl MVP, thanks to his thrilling fourth-quarter comeback in the Chiefs’ 31-20 win over the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.

He clearly was not at his best for three quarters of Sunday night’s game, and it looked as if his mistakes might doom the Chiefs and prevent Reid from getting his first Super Bowl win. But like all truly great players, Mahomes summoned his best when his team needed it most.

That was best exemplified by his brilliant 44-yard pass to Tyreek Hill on third-and-15 while under a heavy pass rush. That play right there was Mahomes at his finest, and it sparked the quarterback’s third straight playoff comeback, this one from a 20-10 deficit in the fourth quarter.

Earlier in the postseason, he vanquished the Texans after being down 24-0 and solved the Titans after going down 17-7 in the first half.

“We were down by quite a little bit each game,” Reid said. “The guys are resilient. They’re mentally tough. They trust each other. They don’t care if they’re up or down, they’re going to bear down to win the game.”

But that happens only because of Mahomes. Only a handful of quarterbacks have that kind of ability — with Joe Montana and Tom Brady topping that list of clutch playoff performers — and Mahomes might be right there with them by the time his career is over.

He already might be better than any other current NFL quarterback, and there’s no reason to believe we won’t judge his career in historic terms.

He is a great quarterback with a terrific cast of players around him, which means there’s every reason to believe he can — and will — do this again. Quite simply, the Chiefs are not a one-and-done Super Bowl team.

“We’ve got explosive players,” Reid said. “We got guys that trust each other, that’s the biggest thing. When you’re down by 24 points, you don’t collapse as a team mentally. They keep firing, and the defense rallies and special teams rally. Somewhere along the line, each group has that opportunity to change the game.”

That is especially true with Mahomes, who is that rare player with the ability to singlehandedly lift his team when it appears all hope is lost.

As long as you have Mahomes, you have a chance.

And when you have Mahomes playing for an offense that includes the kind of weapons he’s had at his disposal — including wide receivers Hill, Sammy Watkins and Mecole Hardman, as well as tight end Travis Kelce and running back Damien Williams, who was splendid against the 49ers — you have a dominant team capable of beating anyone.

There’s more. The Chiefs’ defense, once considered the team’s Achilles’ heel, now has as much versatility and game-changing ability as any defense in the league.

The addition of defensive end Frank Clark was incalculably huge, and his fourth-quarter sacks of Ryan Tannehill in the AFC Championship Game and Jimmy Garoppolo in the Super Bowl were massive. Safety Tyrann Mathieu is a difference-maker the Chiefs hadn’t had until this season. Defensive tackle Chris Jones is one of the best interior players in the game.

Then there’s the defensive mastermind: Steve Spagnuolo. Brought in by Reid to fix a chronically weak defense,  he excelled in his first year with the Chiefs the same way he did with the Giants in 2007.

He won Super Bowls both times by getting the most out of his talent and outthinking some of the great offensive thinkers in football — up to and including San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan.

But none of this happens without the most indispensable player of all: Mahomes.He likely soon will be signed to the richest contract in NFL history — and deservedly so — because he's the one who makes it all possible.  For the next dozen years or so, there’s no reason to believe he can’t produce performances as good as or better than the ones he already has compiled in just two full seasons as the starter.

“You understand how hard it is,” Mahomes said. “It was awesome to be able to [win a championship] this year. I’m going to enjoy it for the next couple of weeks, but knowing what the mindset is, we’re going to get back grinding this offseason. Go back in and try to do more stuff, because we know everybody’s going to be gunning for us.”

He’s right about that. When you win, there is a target on your back and everyone gives you his best shot. But this team, this coach and this quarterback are good enough to withstand those shots and come out with a Vince Lombardi Trophy at the end.

It may not happen next year, but make no mistake: It will happen again. And not only once.

By Bob Glauber

Special to NewsdayBobGlauber

Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”