Third-and-Long, Then the Pass That Saved the Chiefs

The biggest games don’t often change on a single play, even though that’s a story line that often gets manufactured when, months or years later, someone wants to make a documentary. This one did.

Standing on his 30-yard line, 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage, in a shotgun formation, Mahomes took the snap and started drifting back as the 49ers’ defensive line closed in around him. With defensive lineman DeForest Buckner a moment away from sacking him, Mahomes spotted Hill cutting right to left, virtually alone, some 50 yards downfield. Mahomes took one more step, planted his back foot on his 22-yard line and let loose.

It was not a beautiful ball, more of a wounded duck than a targeted strike, but Hill was so open he had time to settle under the ball and let it fall into his arms at the 49ers’ 22-yard line.

“That’s just a deep route, a deep out,” Hill said after the game of the route that looked as if it was headed to the right before he made the nasty cut to the left that sent a defensive back twisting around and put Hill into so much empty space. “Just set the safety up good deep, get his hips to flip, and just roll out of it.”

The crowd Sunday night was overwhelmingly pro-Chiefs in Hard Rock Stadium, and when Hill caught that pass, the fans roared louder than they had roared all night. They wouldn’t stop until the game was over. With the Chiefs on the march, the 49ers suddenly seemed as if they were on their back foot every play, scrambling to regain control of a game that had seemed nearly done.

A defensive pass interference penalty put the Chiefs on the 1-yard line. A throw to Travis Kelce cut the deficit to 3. The 49ers went three-and-out. And then Mahomes took the Chiefs right back downfield in 146 seconds for the winning score.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/02/sports/football/super-bowl-mahomes-big-play.html?emc=rss&partner=rss