5 Stats to Know from the Chiefs' Super Bowl Victory

Digging into the numbers for the franchise's fourth NFL Championship

The Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl Champions. Again.

In a crazy overtime affair that saw the Chiefs erase yet another 10 point deficit in the biggest game of the year, Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes walked off the field with their third championship rings and with a dynasty cemented in NFL lore. We’ll have tons of coverage about the game, key plays, and where this team goes moving forward, but today we’ll focus on the present with five stats from the Chiefs 25-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

208 - Total yards for the Chiefs offense on the last three drives

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Chiefs offense was struggling to move the ball. They were clinging to a 13-10 lead after a muffed punt by the 49ers, but had accumulated just 247 total yards of offense and had five drives with just three plays ran. It was an uphill battle to move the ball and sustain drives, and when the 49ers drove the length of the field to score a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, something needed to change for the Chiefs to emerge victorious.

Kansas City drove the length of the field on three consecutive drives, kicking two red zone field goals — one as time expired in the fourth quarter — and an overtime touchdown to walk off the field as champions. Those three drives totaled 208 yards and bumped the Chiefs to 455 total yards of offense on the day. That is the fourth highest total in franchise history behind the 2021 Buffalo Bills Divisional, the 2013 Indianapolis Colts Wild Card, and the 2021 Pittsburgh Steelers Wild Card games. The Chiefs have been ridden down as a “bad” offense for much of the year, and for large stretches of this game, they embodied that moniker. However, they got the job done when it counted and willed this team over the line to a championship.

15 - Playoff victories for Patrick Mahomes

28 year old Patrick Lavon Mahomes is third in quarterback playoff victories in the history of the NFL. Let that sink in for a minute. The Chiefs quarterback is 15-3 in his career, which is second all time in winning percentage amongst players with more than 2 playoff appearances behind only Bart Starr. We are witnessing one of the greatest football players in the history of the sport in his prime dominate one of the most competitive eras in NFL history. He will tie Joe Montana with one more playoff win and will only have Tom Brady’s 35-13 playoff record to look up at moving forward.

Look no further than the fourth quarter and overtime of the Super Bowl to see just how dominant he is right now. Mahomes went 16/22 through the air, accumulated 187 total yards, and walked off the touchdown in overtime with a pass to Mecole Hardman. Comebacks like last night’s game have put quarterbacks in rarefied air, and Mahomes has multiples just like it. Mahomes could retire tomorrow and go down as one of the greatest players to ever play the sport, and he might have another decade of success in him. You are blessed to have this man, Kansas City. Don’t ever take it for granted.

4 - Championships for Steve Spagnuolo as a DC

The Chiefs defense carried the team for much of the year. When the offense was struggling, they were able to turn to the defensive side of the ball to keep them in games and give them time to figure things out. When the Chiefs got to the playoffs, the dial cranked up another notch and they shut down four of the best offenses in the league — including a historically-terrific 49ers offense in the Super Bowl. The Chiefs defense didn’t allow more than 27 points all year long, setting an NFL record with 21-straight games of doing so. All of that points to one man: Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

Spagnuolo had to contend with 4 completely different offenses during the playoffs, and all of them struggled to execute with what they had done best throughout the year. He presented difficult scenarios each and every week, with none of the offenses being able to “figure out” what he was doing. For his fourth ring, he went through the second-ranked offensive DVOA unit since 1981. What’s remarkable about it is that he also defeated the top-ranked unit (2007 Patriots) and the third-ranked unit (2019 49ers) en route to two more rings. Coordinators do not typically get into the Hall of Fame. It takes a momentum-shifting moment to get coaches into Canton. However, Spagnuolo now holds the record for championships amongst coordinators and has three of the biggest defensive performances in the history of the Super Bowl. You can’t tell the story of the NFL without Spagnuolo — and you shouldn’t be able to walk through the Hall of Fame without seeing him there.

-2 - Total Yards Allowed to Start the Second Half

The Chiefs were down 10-3 at halftime and needed to put some points on the board. Out of the half, Mahomes threw a poor interception that set the 49ers up on the Chiefs’ 44-yard line with a potential momentum-shifting drive on the way. The Chiefs’ defense bucked up and drove the 49ers back one yard on three plays, forcing a punt and keeping the deficit at just 7 points. After another Chiefs punt on the following possession, the Chiefs once again forced negative yardage on the set of downs and the 49ers had to punt from their own 35 yard line. A field goal cut the lead to four, and the subsequent drive saw the 49ers gain zero yards in three plays to force another punt. After a muffed punt on the next set of downs, the Chiefs’ offense was able to score a touchdown and take the lead in the third quarter. After three drives and negative two yards, the 49ers saw themselves down to start the fourth quarter — all because of the Chiefs’ defense.

That sort of performance was not uncommon this year in Kansas City. An untimely turnover or a situation with their backs against the wall usually resulted in the Chiefs’ defense bailing the team out. The drives following Mahomes’ interception fell right in line with those prior regular season and playoff performances as the defense continued to step up and allow the offense to claw back into the game. While individual defensive performances may stick out from previous championship years, this team was defined by the defensive side of the ball. And in the biggest moments, they rose to the occasion again to help this team win another championship.

57 - NFL Record Field Goal by Harrison Butker

The Chiefs’ special teams group has flown under the radar for most of the 2023-24 season. There have been some positive moments in the return game and some nice punts by Tommy Townsend, but it’s largely been an unforgotten piece of the team — outside of Harrison Butker. Butker was nails, going 44-of-46 throughout the season and hitting every single attempted field goal longer than 50 yards — including two from beyond 50 in the Super Bowl. He also set the NFL record for the longest field goal in Super Bowl history on a 57-yard rocket that Townsend barely was able to get down after a high snap.

While the Chiefs’ offense struggled at times this year, Butker didn’t. He’s become one of the most clutch kickers in the history of the postseason, ranking fourth all time in postseason history in just seven years. The rest of the players above him on the list played for at least double Butker’s current NFL tenure, giving him a good chance to catch the players ahead of him. There are lots of notable players and coaches on this staff that are going to go down in NFL history, so it may be easy to look past Butker’s efforts. But this man has become one of the biggest forces on a perennial championship team — and might just be on his way to a Hall of Fame nomination.