For almost 52 minutes, the Super Bowl was the Stupor Bore.
The halftime show had more moves than the first half.
Just getting it out there: Everyone has a choice, and watching that halftime show was not going to happen. It wasn't choreographed for my demographic, so the dishes were washed instead.
Enough about that and those trite, overpriced commercials. Again, this reporter is not in the age group the ads were targeting.
As for the game, those living in the Bay area endured it because their beloved San Francisco 49ers were leading and might have won if not for the magic of Patrick Mahomes.
In no way is that jumping on the bandwagon of blaming 49ers Coach Kyle Shanahan, who also was the offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons when they blew a 28-3 Super Bowl lead to New England.
The guy is 40 years old. Chiefs Coach Andy Reid is 61, and that was his first Super Bowl win.
It won't take Shanahan 21 years to win a Super Bowl.
In fact, it was Reid in those first 52 minutes who couldn't find a way to get the most dynamic player in the NFL, Mahomes, comfortable.
Mahomes hadn't thrown two interceptions in a game all season, until Sunday night when the 49ers relentlessly pursued him. Trailing 20-10 with 8:12 to play, the Chiefs had just 175 yards of offense.
That was when Reid set Mahomes free.
The Chiefs scored 21 unanswered points and had 190 yards of offense after that.
Mahomes drove K.C. 83 yards on 10 plays, capping the drive with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Travis Kelce.
The Chiefs' defense held the 49ers and Mahomes went to work, completing a couple of passes to soften up San Francisco's defense. Then he hit Sammy Watkins with a 38-yard pass that left them 10 yards out.
Three plays later, Mahomes hit Damien Williams for 5 yards as the Chiefs pulled ahead 24-20. Even the 49ers knew the momentum had swung.
The final score was a 38-yard run by Williams, who would have been the MVP if Mahomes hadn't played. He rushed for 104 yards and caught 4 passes for 29 yards while scoring twice.
In the end, it was going to be hard to beat Mahomes 26-of-42 passing for 286 yards.
Granted, until that fourth quarter he struggled to complete simple passes over the middle. He seemed off balance, out of sync and almost confused.
Then all of a sudden, he was dropping back deeper, rolling out or doing whatever it took to execute a play.
This is the same guy who rolled into Fayetteville with Texas Tech and completed 26 of 30 passes -- he had only two passes hit the ground as the Hogs did pick him off twice -- for 243 yards. He ran for another 58 in the Red Raiders' 35-24 victory in 2015.
That was the game when Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury called out Bret Bielema for telling a room full of coaches at the Texas High School Coaches Convention that if they didn't play a fullback and tight end, he'd beat their behinds.
Most already were running Spread offenses. Recruiting got much tougher in Texas for Bielema after that.
Anyway, Mahomes -- who was lightly recruited out of Whitehouse, Texas -- played three years for the Red Raiders, where against Oklahoma in a 2016 game he passed for a single-game record 734 yards and ran for 85. His 819 total yards are also a single-game total yards record.
He was the 10th player taken in the first round by the Chiefs in the 2017 NFL Draft.
He spent his rookie season as a backup to Alex Smith, but ever since he has been wowing fans everywhere.
It took 52 minutes for Andy Reid to find a way to get the 24-year-old Mahomes comfortable. When he did, it was all over but the confetti.
Sports on 02/04/2020