Super Bowl: The strange 'marriage' that made the Chiefs Super Bowl champion

The union of the prodigy Mahomes with the 'grandfather' Reid was decisive in the victory of Kansas City

• Super Bowl
  

  The NFL has a new superhero and his name is Patrick Mahomes
  

Until Sunday, Andy Reid He had won 221 games in the NFL, the sixth coach with the most victories in history. But in his 21 seasons he had not achieved the victory that defines a legacy, which ensures a position in the Hall of Fame, which will finally take away the unfair loser poster. Now, Andy Reid has won 222 games in the NFL, after his Kansas City Chiefs the San Francisco 49ers were imposed in the Super Bowl by 31-20, and no one would discuss it again. All thanks to an unexpected relationship with a boy who was three years old when he was released as chief technician: Patrick Mahomes, the best quarterback of the planet

Nothing that happened on Sunday night in Miami should have happened. And I don't mean that ode to the shining that was the performance of Shakira and Jennifer Lpez. That was memorable. But neither Andy Reid nor Patrick Mahomes should have been there to listen to him from the locker room. In 2012, everything went to hell in the life of the coach. In August, his eldest son, Garrett, died from an overdose of herona at age 29 during the pre-season rally of the Philadelphia Eagles, to which his father directs and where he collaborated as an assistant. Reid took two days off and returned to work, but the season was a disaster. In December, the Eagles fired him after 14 seasons, the best time in the franchise … but without a ring to complete it.

After a personal tragedy and unemployed with 54 years, Reid's career as a coach seemed to come to an end, by his own decision or that of others. Its withdrawal, at least temporary, was the most raised option. But he had other plans and signed with the Chiefs, who come to finish the course as the worst team in the NFL. The Super Bowl is still far away for Reid. Specifically, in Texas with a bat in hand.

Son of a professional baseball player, Patrick Mahomes was the star of his institute in three disciplines: American football, basketball and paternal sport, in which his future seemed to reside with several MLB teams interested in signing him as soon as he finished high school. However, and despite being considered a medium quality project (three stars out of five, according to experts), I decided to give it a try as quarterback and enlisted at the University of Texas Tech. All two years both sports before finally betting on the football. His arm power gradually called the attention of the NFL franchises and in the 2017 draft with the idea of ​​being chosen at the end of the first round or beginning of the second. But a new turn in this story awaited him.

A risky decision

The Chiefs, with the solvent Alex Smith as quarterback, had entered playoffs in three of his four seasons with Reid and they seemed a stable project without the need for revolutions. There is no other position in the world of sport as delicate as that of quarterback of the NFL. There are only 32 positions on the entire planet and, year after year, a third of them do not give the level. If you have a competent quarterback, you don't touch it. The Chiefs had it. And they touched it. For general stupefaction, they made a transfer to go up to the tenth election of the draft and select Mahomes. Neither the team nor the player expected at that point. Great today, great risk then.

After a year as a substitute for Smith, he ended up with another disappointing defeat in playoffs, last year Reid decided it was time. He let the veteran go and gave the boy the reins. The horse began to fly. Mahomes was the undisputed MVP of the season and only gave way to the Super Bowl, in the extension of the conference final against the almighty Patriots of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. But it had just begun. This year, a mid-season injury stopped him a couple of months ago, but it has been a storm in the playoffs. A hurricane capable of rewriting 21 years of Andy Reid's career from a blow. The world is fairer today.

Now that I have a ring, I only think of winning another one, Reid said. With Mahomes by your side, don't bet against him. They were born to join.