ORLANDO, Fla. — It has been roughly 24 hours since Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes became the youngest QB to win Super Bowl MVP, but he admitted Monday after a Disney World Super Bowl parade that it still hasn’t sunk in and might not for some time.
“You’re just so caught up in the moment, and you’re enjoying it, and there’s so much stuff going on that you don’t really think about what you just did,” Mahomes said in an exclusive interview with ESPN.
“With a game that ends like that, you don’t have that moment where you realize you’re winning the game. You’re just trying to fight until the end,” Mahomes said.
“It has been a whirlwind. … Just starting off being down in the game, the game not going the way that we wanted it to go and then finding a way to get the win [on] the biggest stage, and the guys fighting to the end, and after that, being able to celebrate with my teammates and being at Disney World and being here and seeing the support that Chiefs Kingdom has here, too. It has been awesome.
“I understand it. I know the magnitude of it. But it’s been so fast-paced from the game to the after-party to here. I’m gonna look back on this, and it’s gonna be something I’ll forever remember.”
Mahomes has his pick when it comes to seeking guidance from legendary NFL quarterbacks on what’s next. He regularly texts with Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. But interestingly enough, the person he said he’ll seek out to talk to about life after winning a Super Bowl at 24 and playing with a target on his back is his coach, Andy Reid, who waited 22 seasons to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
“Just how much success he’s had, year in and year out,” Mahomes said of Reid, who had won 222 career games by the time he could call himself a Super Bowl champion. “I talk to guys like Tom, guys like Aaron and all these guys, and they give me little pieces of advice here and there. But to me, it’s about every day and just taking advantage of it and understanding that, just like this last year, we’re gonna be the team that everybody’s gonna give their best effort for, but it’s about believing in each other and going out there and finding ways to win games.”
Mahomes wasn’t ready Monday to make the declaration that tight end Travis Kelce offered Sunday night, calling the Chiefs a dynasty.
“That’s what we want it to be, but you’ve gotta win a couple more championships to call yourself a dynasty,” said Mahomes, who finished one game shy of the Super Bowl last season, falling to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.
“For me, it’s really just the beginning of something great. That’s all I’ll say. We found a way to get a championship, to win a Super Bowl. We have a lot of young guys coming back, so we’re gonna try to do the same thing next year.”
Mahomes believes that a big part of continuing to win will be keeping the Chiefs’ current group of players together, and he acknowledged that to do that in New England, Brady had to make some contract concessions. Mahomes’ contract will be a point of discussion all offseason, as he is eligible for an extension after three seasons and could become the NFL’s first $200 million quarterback.
“Obviously, it’s very important to have guys around me that are obviously my brothers and the guys that I’ve built this bond with and, second off, that are great football players,” he said. “So for me, it’s just about doing whatever way it takes to have the best football team around me and still be able to go out and win football games.”
“For me, it’s really just the beginning of something great. That’s all I’ll say. We found a way to get a championship, to win a Super Bowl. We have a lot of young guys coming back, so we’re gonna try to do the same thing next year.”
Patrick Mahomes
He said he hasn’t thought beyond football to how his platform as a new Super Bowl champion can broaden his reach, even in a week when the late Kobe Bryant’s off-field accomplishments — including becoming a champion of women’s sports, an Oscar winner and an author — were highlighted and had professional athletes taking stock of their lives.
“I’m trying to keep going out there and winning Super Bowls. That’s the goal,” Mahomes said. “You want to win as many as possible. For me, it’s about enjoying this, enjoying this for maybe a couple weeks, and go back to offseason workouts and get this thing rolling again.”
Like other NFL players, Mahomes has concerns about the NFL’s proposal for a 17-game season. He suffered a dislocated knee this season but would have played 19 regular- and postseason games if he had been healthy.
“It’s definitely different. It’s something that I’m not a huge fan of,” Mahomes said. “You have to understand how everything works and keep an open mind, but I’m just gonna go with what the guys in the league, kind of all as a group, we’ll all come together as a group and decide what we want to do. If that’s staying with 16 games, we’ll do that. If it’s going 17 games, we’ll do that. I’m not a huge fan of it, but I’m also gonna keep an open mind to it.”