Not everyone knows the NFL’s playoff overtime rules. And that includes the player who scored the game-ending touchdown in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII.
Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman, who caught the game-winning pass from Patrick Mahomes in overtime, didn’t realize that the Chiefs had won the game. Mahomes said on NFL Network after the game that he had to tell Hardman in the end zone that they’d just won.
“Can I tell a quick funny story? I threw a touchdown to this dude to end the game, and he had no idea,” Mahomes said, with his arm around Hardman. “I said, ‘Dude, we just won the Super Bowl.’ He had no idea. He didn’t even celebrate at the beginning.”
This was the first game played under the new overtime rules for the playoffs, which guarantee both teams a possession even if the team that receives the kickoff scores the touchdown. By winning this game, Hardman has a place in history that he didn’t even realize he had secured, until Mahomes told him.
