It’s patently fair to think that both the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will be among the leading contenders to win Super Bowl 60 at the end of the 2025 NFL season. Both teams have star-studded rosters. They’ve combined for 11 appearances in conference title games over the past seven seasons – K.C. qualifying each of those years – a period when no other club has made it that far more than twice. And, of course, the Chiefs and Niners have met on two of the past six Super Sundays.
Yet Thursday seemed to illustrate a – maybe the – major difference between these proud franchises and might even be the reason that Kansas City beat San Francisco in both of those Super Bowls while winning another and appearing in five overall since the start of the 2019 campaign.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a three-time Super Bowl MVP, was asked about the challenge of resetting and resuming the relentless football grind after a Super Bowl defeat – February’s blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles preventing K.C. from becoming the first team to capture three successive Lombardi Trophies.
“I feel like I focus every year, because I know how special of a run that we’re on and how many years left I’ll have with all these great players and a great team,” said Mahomes. “And every team is different and you don’t want to miss an opportunity.
