The 26-year-old played arguably the best game of his career against Kansas City two years ago, setting Super Bowl records for scrambling (70 rushing yards) and rushing touchdowns by a quarterback (three), and this time he has a new weapon alongside him: Saquon Barkley, the league’s leading rusher amid perhaps the best ever season by an NFL running back.
The Superdome has long been a site of NFL mythology, the backdrop to Joe Montana’s legendary game-winning drive in Super Bowl XXIII, Tom Brady’s first ring in Super Bowl XXXVI, and the surreal 34-minute blackout that nearly derailed the Baltimore Ravens’ title run a dozen years ago.
Andy Reid, coaching in his fifth Super Bowl, will break Bill Belichick’s record for most postseason games coached (45) and, with a win, join a select group of head coaches with four or more Super Bowl victories.
For Mahomes, already a three-time Super Bowl MVP at 29 years old, a win would move him into a category all his own: no quarterback has ever started five Super Bowls before turning 30, and none have won four before reaching that milestone.
The Philadelphia Eagles, with 17 wins of their own, are back in the Super Bowl for the second time in three seasons, still nursing the scars of their first meeting with Kansas City.
