Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes says this was favorite pass from Super Bowl LVIII win vs. 49ers

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes knows the answer you think he’s going to give.

When asked about his favorite pass from February’s Super Bowl LVIII win over the San Francisco 49ers, the obvious response is KC’s three-yard overtime game-winner to Mecole Hardman — a play that was actually supposed to be a shovel to Jerick McKinnon.

“Obviously, the touchdown’s a big one,” Mahomes said in an interview last week.

Here, though, the Chiefs quarterback is about to pivot.

Because that isn’t his favorite throw of the game — or even his top choice to that particular receiver.

The No. 1 pass, for Mahomes, was a second-quarter throw he had to Hardman — a 52-yard bomb that set up the Chiefs inside the 10-yard line.

Though the snap didn’t help the Chiefs score points — running back Isiah Pacheco lost a fumble the next play — Mahomes believed the deep throw set a needed tone against the 49ers’ defense.

“They were being so aggressive downhill, as their defense usually is,” Mahomes said. “And for us to show that we were able to strike down the field, I think that was a big moment in the game.”

A similar theme played out the last time the teams had met in 2022.

Star columnist Sam McDowell reported then that Mahomes gathered teammates following an early interception, telling them he’d seen the 49ers’ safeties were crashing hard to take away intermediate routes.

Mahomes’ plan, then, was to go deep. He did so repeatedly that game, throwing for a then-season-high 423 yards in the Chiefs’ 44-23 road victory.

One of the best examples was late in the first half. San Francisco dropped two safeties, but one of them — No. 29 Talanoa Hufanga — bit hard to help on a crossing route by Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

Mahomes saw it and reacted. He pump-faked toward Kelce, then delivered a ball downfield to Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who beat single-coverage for a 40-yard gain.

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Valdes-Scantling’s downfield movements now should look familiar; it’s essentially the same “Circle Post” route that Hardman used to get open for his 52-yard catch in Super Bowl LVIII.

Both Valdes-Scantling and Hardman faked out toward the sideline, getting defenders to flip their hips the wrong way before cutting back inside on a post route.

The Super Bowl throw had one main difference, though. Mahomes likely figured the 49ers would play things the same way they had in 2022, with a cheating safety coming upfield to help with coverage on Kelce.

That’s not the way this one played out, though.

Gipson, one of the 49ers’ safeties, actually ignores Kelce’s crossing route and decides to stay deep to help double-cover Hardman. That decision is so noticeable — and jarring — that just after Mahomes unleashes the long throw to Hardman, Kelce raises both hands in frustration, wondering why he isn’t getting the ball without a defender around him.

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Gipson never locates the pass downfield, however, becoming little more than a bystander as Hardman cradles it for the 52-yard gain.

“We wanted to take a shot, and obviously it’s one of those if, it doesn’t get completed, you’re looking like why you didn’t throw it to Travis, because Travis is wide open,” Mahomes said. “But we had worked on it all throughout the week, and being Mecole — and how he had left (the team) and came back — and we were trying to find ways to have those deep shots.”

So how did that one pass change history? Mahomes is convinced it did.

The QB finished 34 of 46 for 333 passing yards and attempted just one other throw that traveled 25 yards through the air — a pass that fell incomplete.

Still, perhaps because of the early deep throw, the 49ers didn’t cover as effectively underneath. The Chiefs were nearly perfect on offense in the fourth quarter and overtime, scoring on each of their final five possessions.

“To hit one early in the game — just at least put them on their heels a little bit to say, ‘We can still go over the top,’” Mahomes said, “I think it was big for the entire game.”

It also set up the dramatics late, with Mahomes hitting Hardman for another critical catch — one that ended up securing the Chiefs the Super Bowl title.

“That was a great football game,” Mahomes said. “I’ll always remember that one, because two great football teams I thought played great games, both sides of the ball in different moments.”