It's hard to imagine a more painful way to miss out on a Super Bowl ticket than the Kansas City Chiefs' loss to the Cincinnati Bengals this year. After a fantastic start to the game, it looked like Patrick Mahomes and company were heading to Los Angeles.
However, things would take a huge twist by the second half as the Bengals overcame the 18-point deficit to force the extra time. And eventually they would get the overtime win through Evan McPherson.
It could have been a day to remember for Mahomes, but it ended up as one he'd rather forget. The star quarterback took responsability for his mistakes and blamed no other than himself for the loss, which is still causing him pain - especially with Super Bowl LVI just days away.
Chiefs' loss to Bengals, missing Super Bowl LVI still hurts Patrick Mahomes
"I mean, it still hurts," Mahomes said on Sunday during the 2022 Pro Bowl day, via NFL.com. "I mean, you want to be in that Super Bowl, but you enjoy this. It's an honor to be in the Pro Bowl and so to be able to be in the Pro Bowl with a lot of my teammates, seeing their families, it's a good way to kinda cap off the season."
However, painful as the defeat has been, it could lead Mahomes to unleash the best of himself. His mindset proves he's determined to come back stronger in the future. "I'm still not over it," he continued. "I don't think I'll be over it until we're playing in another Super Bowl. So I'll have to use that as motivation going forward.
"We have to go through the process again. You start from scratch every single year in this league. You have to go in with the mindset I'm gonna get better and better every single day and hopefully give yourself a chance to be in the Super Bowl."
That's actually true. If not, just look at the Bengals. They've started from scratch this year and made it to the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years. The Chiefs will certainly have a chance to redeem themselves, and with Mahomes at the helm they can expect to have many of them.
