KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tom Brady said it during the Super Bowl LIX broadcast — he relives the Super Bowl losses more than he celebrates the Super Bowl wins.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes understands the former New England great’s sentiment.
“Anytime you lose a Super Bowl, it’s the worst feeling in the world and it will stick with you the rest of your career,” Mahomes said. “These are the two losses that will motivate me to be even better the rest of my career, because you only get so few of these and you have to capitalize on these. They hurt probably more than the wins feel good.”
Mahomes said he didn’t deliver an impassioned speech in the postgame locker room. He was too dejected from a lopsided 40-22 loss Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, for which he said he shouldered the blame.
Instead, it was defensive tackle Chris Jones, who left the game with a knee injury in the fourth quarter, who cajoled his teammates to make the Super Bowl loss matter.
“They all hurt,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “You get this far, you’ve battled your tail off to get this far. It’s very hard to do. We spent a lot of time doing this. It’s not a hobby, so we’re in it the whole way. We spent a lot of hours doing it as players, as coaches. So, it’s going to hurt. They all hurt when you get to this level.”
But that hurt can either crush a player or fuel him to new heights.
Rookie wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who set a franchise Super Bowl record with 157 yards receiving and two touchdowns, said he plans to use the loss as motivation and “just carry this with us into training camp. I feel like we’re going to be back, so we just need to use this as fuel to build on next season and get better, use this as motivation to come harder next season.”
That’s what Mahomes said he hopes the Chiefs take away from their second Super Bowl loss in the last five seasons, including the Super Bowl LV loss against the Buccaneers in Tampa, Florida.
“Now, it’s how you respond,” Mahomes said. “Hopefully, we can learn from this like we learned from the last loss that we had and try to continue to get even better, because it’s going to take better football, especially from me, in order to make a run at another Super Bowl.”
Mahomes finished 21 of 32 for 257 yards with three touchdowns and also led Kansas City in rushing, albeit with only four carries for 25 yards, but he also threw two turnovers — one that was returned for a touchdown and the other that set Philly up with a short field — and lost a fourth-quarter fumble.
“Today was a rough day,” Reid said. “We didn’t really play well in any of the phases. I didn’t coach well enough, and they (the Eagles) did a nice job. But I’m proud of our guys, for the battle and the fight that they put in throughout the year and all the games that they’ve played here the last few years.”
Linebacker Nick Bolton helped bottle up NFL Offensive Player of the Year Saquon Barkley, finishing second on the Chiefs with nine tackles, including two for a loss. But he also had a key personal foul that extended an Eagles touchdown drive in the loss.
“Whether it’s your first, second or third (Super Bowl) — they all suck if you lose them, man,” Bolton said. “You work so hard to get to this moment, to get to this game, and you go out and give everything you can to end the season victorious. So, it’s a hard pill to swallow.”
It’s even harder for Bolton, a former second-round pick from the University of Missouri, because it may have been his last game with the Chiefs.
Bolton, who just finished his rookie deal and now will be a free agent, said he’ll take a day or two to process the Super Bowl loss and the 2024 season overall, but he’d love to stick around the state of Missouri.
“I’ll talk to my agent, man, but I’ve been here for seven years and it feels like home,” Bolton said. “They welcomed me with open arms as a little 18-year-old with short hair, no facial hair, and let me go through growing pains, let me find my own identity. It’s home.”
He hopes it will continue to be and that the Chiefs can battle their way into Super Bowl LX next February at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
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