Super Bowl 59: Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City Chiefs embracing role as ‘villains’ in pursuit of three-peat history

The Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday, live on Sky Sports NFL and Main Event from 10pm ahead of kick-off at 11.30pm; Tom Brady features on commentary while Kendrick Lamar headlines the half-time show

That famous film quote, featured in The Dark Knight, holds particular relevance as we steel ourselves for what could be yet another Kansas City Super Bowl title this week, with the Chiefs eying NFL immortality as the first ever to win three Super Bowls in a row – although at a cost!

In the midst of their dominance in the NFL over the past seven seasons – this, a fifth Super Bowl run, along with seven-straight AFC Championship appearances spanning Patrick Mahomes’ entire NFL career as a starter – it is easy to forget they were once the heroes, the great new hope that signalled the end of the ‘evil empire’ of the past that was the Tom Brady and Bill Belichick axis out of New England.

David did not quite slay Goliath at the first attempt, Brady and Belichick getting the better of the Chiefs at the Conference Championship stage in that first season of the Chiefs’ run – the pair notching a sixth and final Super Bowl victory for the Patriots and their prolific partnership – before the former returned in a new uniform and with new toys at his disposal in Tampa Bay as the Buccaneers inflicted a first (and only) Super Bowl defeat on Mahomes and co two years later.

On Sunday, Brady will this time be up in the stands commentating on his first Super Bowl, potentially watching his healthy lead on Vince Lombardi trophies being chipped away at further as Mahomes looks to land a fourth to his seven – and all before his 30th birthday!