Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes is the first quarterback to reach the Super Bowl four times before turning 30, and, for the second time, he’ll be facing the 49ers.
“It’s fun watching their team play,” Mahomes said Tuesday on Kansas City’s The Drive 610-AM. “They’ve been getting after people these last few years. Even though they’ve been through a couple of different coordinators, they have a lot of the same players.”
Mahomes, who turned 28 on Sept. 17, is getting familiar with the 49ers again after beating them for his first Lombardi Trophy four years ago. Robert Saleh was the 49ers’ defensive coordinator in that 31-20 defeat in Super Bowl LIV in Miami, only four defensive starters remain: defensive linemen Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead, and linebackers Fred Bosa and Dre Greenlaw.
“I knew when we played them that time they were a great team and would probably get back,” Mahomes added. “You never know that you’ll get back. The fact we’re both back in the Super Bowl and playing each other again, it’ll be a great challenge for us.
“I know they’ll want to win because they didn’t win the last one, so they’re going to be fired up, and it’ll be a great opportunity.”
MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 2: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) is rushed by San Francisco 49ers’ Nick Bosa (97) in the first quarter of Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
The 49ers won Sunday’s NFC Championship Game by rallying from a 24-7 halftime deficit and beating the Detroit Lions 34-31. That followed the Chiefs’ 17-10 win over the No. 1-seed Baltimore Ravens in Mahomes’ sixth straight AFC Championship Game.
Having won last year’s Super Bowl 38-35 over the Philadelphia Eagles, the Chiefs get another shot at repeating as defending champions. In 2020, following their Super Bowl comeback over the 49ers, they lost 31-9 to Tom Brady and the host Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Monday morning, Mahomes and the Chiefs got to work on the 49ers, although he’s kept a close eye on them over the years – and astutely noted their carousel of defensive coordinators. Saleh left in 2021 to coach the New York Jets coach, then DeMeco Ryans served as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator for their past two seasons (which ended in NFC Championship Game losses). Steve Wilks is in his first season as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator under seventh-year coach Kyle Shanahan.
“They’ve won a lot of games for a reason: They have great players and a great coached team,” Mahomes added.
Mahomes passed for 423 yards with three touchdowns and one interception when the Chiefs crushed the 49ers 44-23 in an Oct. 23, 2022 game at Levi’s Stadium.
Mahomes’ 14 playoff wins are as many as Terry Bradshaw, Peyton Manning and John Elway, all of whom are tied for the third-most in NFL history behind San Mateo native Tom Brady (35) and former 49ers and Chiefs quarterback Joe Montana (16).
Mahomes ranks sixth in playoff lore with 39 touchdown passes and ninth with 4,802 passing yards.
Only Brady (10) and Elway (five) have played more Super Bowls.
“It is really cool to play in this many Super Bowls in this short amount of time. I never would have dreamt of it, honestly,” Mahomes added. “It’s cool, but we still want to go out there and win it. We don’t want to go out there and make it a bad memory. We want to make it a good one.”
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NINERS IN WHITE
As was the case in their last Super Bowl matchup, the 49ers will wear white jerseys and the Chiefs will don red. Of the past 19 Super Bowls, the team in white won 16 times.
The 49ers also wore white in their Super Bowl victories with their 1981 and ’89 teams; their 1984, ’88 and ’94 championship teams wore red, as did their 2012 team in losing Super Bowl XLVII to the Ravens.
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