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There’s at least one more reason why the Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl LVII champions. It’s because their coach Andy Reid had his players locked in during the game. And that meant they couldn’t watch Rihanna’s halftime show.
“Coach Reid told us, he said, ‘If you go out to watch the performance, just keep walking,'” Mahomes said during his post-show interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, ‘because you’re not playing the rest of the game.'”
The Chiefs and their opponents, Reid’s former team the Philadelphia Eagles, were among the last people to realize that Rihanna’s halftime show was also the official announcement of her second pregnancy.
She and her longtime partner, A$AP Rocky, are expecting baby number two which became obvious to most folks watching along on social media. Rihanna’s rep confirmed the pregnancy, but Rihanna hasn’t provided any further details on gender or delivery date. She and A$AP have yet to reveal their nine-month-old son’s first name.
By banning his players from the halftime show, Reid was likely thinking of Cincinnati Bengals kicker Evan McPherson who infamously remained on the field during last year’s Super Bowl to watch the halftime show. (In his defense, it was Snoop, Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent, Anderson Paak and Kendrick Lamar).
But his team was down at the half and eventually lost to the L.A. Rams.
No such issues for the Chiefs this year as Reid made it known his players better stay focused on the matter at hand.
That kind of spirit helped the team stay poised even in the wake of quarterback Patrick Mahomes aggravating his ankle injury. He still led the team to the title, which was decided on one controversial play at the end. The Chiefs won 38-35 in what has been described as one of the most exciting Super Bowls in the history of the game.
Mahomes was named both the league MVP and the Super Bowl MVP.
Mahomes, who went from the game in Arizona to Disneyland in Anaheim to Jimmy Kimmel Live! to the Chiefs parade on Wednesday in Kansas City, looked none the worse despite the bad wheel. Kimmel asked if the quarterback was OK and if he ever thought of not completing the game with the Chiefs down 10 at the half.
“I was able to get some stuff done mobility-wise,” he told Kimmel. “The ankle kind of put a hiccup in the game plan, but we were able to get it done and come out Super Bowl champs.”
Mahomes added, “I was coming back. You work all year to play in that game. You knew it was going to hurt, I knew I was going to hurt before the game even started. It was a little bit of ‘get your mind right let’s go out there and leave it on the field and see what happens.’”
