National Football League

Mahomes: Reid threatened to bench Chiefs players who watched Rihanna

Updated Feb. 14, 2023 9:00 p.m. ET

It was all love between Andy Reid and his Chiefs players after Kansas City won Super Bowl LVII, thanks to a dramatic second-half comeback led by Patrick Mahomes. But Mahomes revealed Monday that things might not have been as rosy in the Chiefs' locker room if any players had snuck out at halftime to watch Rihanna's performance.

"Coach Reid told us, ‘If you go out to watch the performance, just keep walking because you’re not playing the rest of the game,'" Mahomes laughingly revealed during an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

Mahomes and the Chiefs took advantage of the extra-long halftime layoff, as the superstar signal-caller was able to rest his right ankle — which appeared to have been re-injured in the second quarter after he sprained it earlier in the playoffs — while Reid and Kansas City's coaching staff were able to come up with the necessary adjustments that allowed the Chiefs to score 24 second-half points against the vaunted Philadelphia Eagles defense, overcoming a 10-point halftime deficit to win 38-35.

[How Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid out-schemed Eagles in Super Bowl]

Mahomes did say that he heard Rihanna's performance was "great," which was the consensus around a nearly 15-minute set in which the nine-time Grammy Award winner played several of her most popular hits and revealed that she was pregnant with her second child after teasing a "special guest" in her show earlier that week.

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The defending NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP did not, however, elaborate on whether Reid's witty threat was directed at any players in particular such as receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who tweeted after the Chiefs won the AFC Championship, "Serious question… can I watch Rihanna perform at halftime?"

Mahomes was coming off a busy Monday celebrating his second Super Bowl title, having spent most of the day at Disneyland with his family, including wife Brittney, daughter Sterling and son Patrick III, nicknamed "Bronze."

Reid, meanwhile, celebrated his own second Super Bowl win in a very different fashion.

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