KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City’s vaunted offense scored only once on four first-half drives and the Chiefs trailed by 10 points at halftime against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The last image of Patrick Mahomes before halftime was a grimacing, gimpy quarterback limping to the sideline after yet another three-and-out.
Maybe it was Rihanna’s red outfit, maybe it was simply the mettle of a championship team, but the Chiefs emerged from the half-hour halftime hiatus rejuvenated.
“I don’t want to say we played tight in the first half, but you didn’t see that same joy that we play with,” Mahomes said. “I wanted guys to know that everything we worked for was for this moment. You have to enjoy this moment. You can’t let the moment overtake you. I thought the guys did that in the second half and they fought until the end.”
After struggling the first two quarters, Kansas City scored three touchdowns and the game-winning field goal on its four second-half drives in rallying for a 38-35 victory.
“Guys embraced the moment,” Mahomes said. “That first half, we were doing some good stuff, but I felt like guys were getting consumed by everything around us — not just going out there playing and enjoying this game that we’ve played since we were little kids.”
The Chiefs were motivated to match the Eagles’ opening-drive touchdown, but after the second drive ended with a missed field goal and the offense bogged down, so did the team’s mood.
“The big difference between the first half and the second half was just energy,” wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said. “We came out with that drive, because we were so hungry that they scored. But we had a couple three-and-outs, and that kind of changed the whole mood.”
The energy picked up considerably in the locker room and it carried through to the second half — and right to a second Lombardi Trophy presentation in the last four seasons.
“I was proud,” Mahomes said. “I talked a little bit, but it was everybody. It wasn’t like I was the only person talking in that locker room. We just challenged each other to leave everything out there.”
The theme of the locker room — whether it was coaches, Mahomes or pockets of players talking — was to leave everything on the field during the next 30 minutes and hope it was enough.
“Everybody was able to catch their breath,” Jones said. “These types of games with this type of atmosphere the extra break is needed. We were able to eat a few chicken strips and relax. Everybody was able to take it in, take a deep breath, meditate.”
Having a roster relied heavily on rookies and newcomers with no previous Super Bowl experience meant Kansas City needed time to adjust, but they managed to figure things out in time.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys on this team, a lot of first-time starters in this league,” Jones said. “I still get jitters going out just being in the excitement. But those guys, I can only imagine how much they had going through their mind.”
While it was disappointing for some players in the locker room to miss Rihanna’s hit-laden performance, halftime proved to be perfect for the Chiefs.
“That 29 minutes was perfect,” Smith-Schuster said. “I didn’t get to see that Rihanna performance. I’m sure she was amazing, but that 29 minutes that we had brought us together.”
