KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Super Bowl: Mark Donovan's answer to both his best and worst moments in sports.
"I don't think I've ever had an experience like the one I had walking out of the stadium in Jacksonville," Chiefs president, Donovan said.
His worst moment came first.
"That's a tough, tough thing to experience," Donovan recalled.
Feb. 6, 2005. The Patriots beat the Eagles 24-21 in Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Florida. Donovan a VP with the Eagles at the time. Andy Reid was his head coach.
"It's tough to ever believe you're going to get back to that," Donovan said.
It took 15 years but he and Reid did. This time, in Miami in February when the Chiefs won a Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years.
But for three-and-a-half quarters, Donovan was having deja vu. After all, the 49ers led by 10 with seven minutes left.
"I'm starting to think of the right concession speech," Donovan said. "And how we talk about this and position this to 'We fought really hard and lost to a really good team and we'll be back.'"
Thankfully for Donovan and for Chiefs' fans, "Wasp" happened and three fourth-quarter touchdowns happened and no concession speech was needed.
"It was just all of the big third downs," said Donovan when asked to list off his favorite Super Bowl LIV moments. "The fact that we had to make every one of those to even have a chance."
The walk out of the Super Bowl stadium was a little different this time.
"Ending the way that did made all that stress and strain worth it," Donovan said.
