MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. Kendall Fuller could not help but smile as he stared at his phone, sitting by himself at his locker and scrolling through themessages he had received. Roughly an hour had passed since the 24-year-old Chiefs cornerback sealed Kansas City's 31-20 win over San Francisco in Super Bowl 54 with an interception.

Fuller's pick, though, arrivedwith a little more than a minute to play and with the 49ers in desperation mode after giving up 21 unanswered points in the game's final 6 1/2 minutes. He told Sporting News the moment felt "amazing," but he felt the game was won well before he beat Ninersreceiver Deebo Samuel to Jimmy Garoppolo'sdeep pass down the middle of the field.

"They hit that deep ball to 10," Fuller said when asked whether a specific play led the Chiefs to believe they could erase a 20-10 deficit in the fourth quarter, referring to quarterbackPatrick Mahomes' 44-yard strike to Tyreek Hill at the 7:13 mark. "When they hit that, that was it."

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This is why Mahomes was named Super Bowl 54 MVP despite his throwing a pair of costly interceptions and posting a passer rating of 78.1, his second-lowest of the season. For the same reason Kansas City players believed they could stage comebacks in their two playoff games, they kept faith when down a couple scores late in the Super Bowl. That reason is thepasser Kansas City drafted with the 10th overall pick in 2017.

"He was encouraging us, telling us to believe," Hill said of Mahomes after the game. "He (saw)it in some guys' eyes, they were getting down, including myself. I was like, Man, how are we going to pull this off? And he was like, '10, youve got to believe, brother. Like the same faith youve had all of your career, youve got to believe right now.'

"He brought the guys together, and you saw what happened, man."

What happened was the play that catalyzed an effort that madethe Chiefsthe first team in NFL history to win three games after trailing by 10 or more points in a single postseason; a sequencethat madeMahomes, 24, the youngest QB ever to win Super Bowl MVP.

Said Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemyin a conversation with SN after the game: "That's all we needed was just a spark."

The play design, simply called "Wasp," was nothing new. In fact, Mahomes said it was the same play the Chiefs ran in the second quarter of their loss to thePatriots in last season's AFC championship game.

"They were playing this kind of robber coverage all game long, where the safety was coming down and kind of robbing all our deep cross routes," Mahomes explained. "We had a good play call on it where we had (Travis) Kelce do a little deep studded cross. We had Tyreek getting one-on-one with that safety."

"That safety" was Jimmie Ward, and the sixth-year pro had no chance to defend Hill's angle route. To be fair to Ward, though, not many QBs can launch the ball from one 22-yard line to the opposite 22-yard line the way Mahomesdid.

Aside from Mahomes' ridiculous arm, the third-and-15play was successful for two reasons. One was the kind of protection from the offensive line that drew praise from just about every Chiefs and 49ers player who was asked about the turning point in Super Bowl 54.

"The biggest thing was we needed really good protection," Mahomes said.

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Added 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan: "He was allowed to hold onto the ball for a while." And San Francisco linebacker Fred Warner: "He had enough time to air it out, and we didnt have enough guys there to defend the play."

The other factor was Mahomes' awareness. When asked about the arm strength required to pull off such a throw,Bieniemyinstead credited a less tangible quality from which Mahomesbenefits.

"One thing Pat has done a tremendous job of since hes been here is he always keeps his eyes downfield," the 50-year-old coordinator said. "He's always looking to see exactly where guys are located, and also anticipate, when we do our scramble drill, where guys are going to be. Thats just huge. Thats just who he is."

The Chiefs cashed in on the big Mahomes-Hill connection with a touchdown four plays later, a 1-yard Mahomes pass to tight end Travis Kelce. Harrison Butker's PAT cut the 49ers' lead to three with 6:17 to play.

The signs of life would have disappeared, though, had Kansas City's defense not turned the spark into a flame.

Patrick Mahomes https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/50/6b/patrick-mahomes-020320-getty-ftr_1xd2cewnalb5w1dedpdypalm15.jpg?t=167277408&w=500&quality=80

In sports, momentum is just a fancy word for mentality, which is whyBieniemy'sconfident words did not fall on deaf ears when the Chiefs set out to defend the 49ers on the possession after Hill's big catch and Kelce's touchdown.

"EB, before we went out there, he said, Get us the ball and we're going to take care of the rest,'" linebackerDamien Wilson said.

A 5-yard Raheem Mostert run and a pair of Garoppolo incomplete passes later, San Francisco's Mitch Wishnowskywas in for his second punt in two drives.

"Sure enough," Wilson added, "it was as simple as that just putting the ball in the offense's hand."

The 44-yard catch by Hill was the Chiefs' longest from scrimmage Sunday, but Sammy Watkins' 38-yard catch on their next series was just as explosive, especially considering Watkins beat Pro Bowl corner Richard Sherman to make it happen.

According to Next Gen Stats, Mahomes' strike to Watkins marked the second "deep completion" Sherman had given up in two games after allowing zero in the regular season.

This would become the "tape don't lie" moment of the game.

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"I just knew it was one-on-one from watching film," Watkins explained when asked about the play, referring to the NFC title game a couple weeks ago, when the 49ers beat the Packers. "I just thank (Green Bay receiver)Davante Adams, because I saw him kill (Sherman) on the inside release. Those are just things we worked on, and me and Pat connected and it was one of the biggest plays in the game."

Added a visibly frustrated Sherman, simply: "He made a play."

Three plays later, the Chiefs found the end zone again. Damien Williams took Mahomes' pass five yards for a score, which stood upon replay review.

Butker's PAT gave Kansas City a four-point lead with 2:50 to play. San Francisco had plenty of time and all three timeouts, but the momentum the Chiefs had built was too strong. The 49ers managed to reach their opponent's 49-yard line before Garoppolo was sacked by Frank Clark on fourth-and-10.

The Chiefs got the ball back, and two plays later, Williams was back in the end zone with a 38-yard run.31-20, Chiefs.

The spark Mahomes and Hill created had turned into an inferno that consumed the NFC champions.

Mahomes was surprised to see Fuller clinch the second Super Bowl title in Chiefs history, especially since the fourth-year corner had nearly picked off Garoppolo on the 49ers' previous possession but dropped the ball.

"I always joke with him that he never catches the interception, but he's always there," Mahomes said. "He went up and got that thing. He made a great play."

In a way, it was fitting that Fuller outjumped Samuel, of all players, to win the game considering the 49ers wide receiver had steadily produced though the first three quarters. Samuel even set arecord with 53 rushing yards, the most by a receiver in Super Bowl history. It was a microcosm of Kansas City tendingto start slowly before reminding its opponent of its superiority.

"That team, thats kind of how they've been all year," Shanahan said. "They get a little bit hot and cold. They can score very fast. That team doesnt do it every single drive, but it was a matter of time."

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Shanahan, of course, was the offensive coordinator with the Falcons when Atlanta blew a 28-3 lead and lost to New England in Super Bowl 51. The social media world was quick to reference that defeat as his 49ers collapsed Sunday. This one, though, was not a matter of second-half clock management or play-calling.

After the Chiefs scored to make it20-17, Garoppolo completed just two passesand the 49ers managed just 37 yards of offense. They simply got overpowered by what suddenly became an unstoppable force.

"The last thing you're thinking about when you're up three points and there is that much time left, the clock is not an issue at that time, especially with the timeouts," Shanahan said. "The issue was moving the chains. If you move the chains, then you will wind the clock."

Added Garoppolo: "It wasn't anything crazy. We just didn't make the plays when we had opportunities to."

With all due respect to Garoppolo, he's wrong.

The Chiefs scoring 21 unanswered points in a little more than six minutes to win the Super Bowl and to do it after fighting through a state of dejection, believing in a QB who was playing the worst game of his career was pretty damn crazy.

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Anatomy of the Chiefs' Super Bowl comeback: Patrick Mahomes' big throw, the momentum and the victory - Sporting News