Patrick Mahomes became the first quarterback to win the Associated Press Most Valuable Player award and Super Bowl MVP award since Kurt Warner in the 1999 season with Kansas City’s victory over Philadelphia in Super Bowl LVII.
And after the last two seasons, Mahomes said Sunday’s championship win felt even sweeter than the first three years ago.
“The first Super Bowl I thought was — obviously, I didn’t win it the first year that I started,” Mahomes said in his postgame press conference. “But the first Super Bowl was kind of like, ‘This is amazing. We won the Super Bowl.’ Just happy, just like a little kid winning a prize at the fair.
“Whereas this one, you’ve dealt with failure. You understand how hard it is to get back on this stage and win this game. I mean, I played in a Super Bowl where I got blown out. Got all hyped up and then you go out there and you don’t do anything. And then I lose in the AFC Championship Game in overtime when I thought we had a chance to win the Super Bowl that year. And to have a full, brand-new team and have to go through the strain of being better and better every single day, it gives you a greater appreciation for winning this game.”
Mahomes had said toward the beginning of his press conference that it was hard for him to put Sunday’s Super Bowl victory into perspective. But when he was later asked if this was a greater achievement given all his new teammates, he admitted that might be the case.
“I mean, it’s a brand new team. Every Super Bowl is something that you’ll have for the rest of your life,” Mahomes said. “I mean, there are only 12 guys that were on that team and won that Super Bowl — it might be a little bit more.
“But to have a brand new team, a lot of rookies playing who stepped up — we were down 10 points at halftime to probably the best team in the NFL all year long. And they’re known for getting ahead of teams and kind of finishing the game off. And for those guys to step up and make those plays in the second half just speaks to the hard work they put in every single day. Luckily a lot of those guys are young so we’ll have a lot of those guys back next year.”
Mahomes ended Sunday’s game 21-of-27 for 182 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Despite tweaking his sprained ankle late in the first half, he still rushed for 44 yards on six attempts.