Sweet Super Bowl success worth the
50-year wait for Chiefs
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[February 03, 2020]
By Amy Tennery
MIAMI (Reuters) - With a Super Bowl
drought stretching five decades finally behind them, the confetti
falling from above, and throngs of elated fans in front of them, one
thing was clear for the Kansas City Chiefs: winning was well worth
the wait.
Coming back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter,
Kansas City defeated the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 on Sunday in
front of a packed crowd overflowing with Chiefs loyalists, who got
to witness a dream 50 years in the making.
"It's amazing. Not only to do it for us, but to do it for Kansas
City," said quarterback and newly-minted Super Bowl MVP Patrick
Mahomes. "They've showed the passion the entire time through the ups
and downs."
Mahomes completed 26 of 42 attempts for 286 yards en route to
clinching the MVP title as the Chiefs got their hands on the trophy
for the first time since beating the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl
IV.
"We're so grateful that we were the group to kind of bring it back
to those people," said Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu. "It's kind of
cool to end as a champion this year."
Richard Nixon was president the last time Kansas City hoisted the
Lombardi trophy and the stadium where they played their last Super
Bowl was demolished 40 years ago.
But the Chiefs were proud to have done right by their fans -- no
matter how long it took.
For the residents of Kansas City not-so-patiently waiting for their
hometown heroes to come back and celebrate, "kind of cool" is quite
the understatement.
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Chiefs head coach Andy Reid celebrates with the Vince Lombardi
trophy after winning the Super Bowl LIV REUTERS/Mike Blake
As Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas put it on Twitter: "LET’S HAVE A
PARADE WEDNESDAY!!!!!!"
While the team sailed into the postseason with a 12-4 regular season
record and a quarterback widely seen as the league's next biggest
star, the Chiefs had to rebound from heartache the previous season
when they fell short in the AFC Championship against the New England
Patriots.
The Chiefs overcame their share of playoff challenges on the way to
Miami as well, coming back from a 24-point deficit in their
divisional game against the Houston Texans and 10 points down in the
AFC championship game against the Tennessee Titans.
"We're a mentally tough team," said Matthieu. "(Coach Andy) Reid
does a good job of getting us right mentally, physically, you know,
even emotionally."
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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