Patrick Mahomes’ Reaction to 49ers Taking Ball in Overtime is the Meme That Will

The NFL is releasing all of the behind-the-scenes footage from Super Bowl LVIII and it has been quite illuminating in regards to the overtime decision that will live on as a great “what-if” in football history. A mic’d up sideline segment revealed just how excited the Kansas City Chiefs were that the San Francisco 49ers wanted to receive the ball first. Wednesday night’s content drop gave us a high-definition, zoomed-in reaction shot of Patrick Mahomes when the 49ers made that choice. The people are loving it.

You can see it right at the end– a little eyebrow raise and a flicker of surprise in his eyes. Like Mahomes couldn’t believe they were actually doing that. Many are saying this is the moment when he knew he was going to win his third Super Bowl.

I don’t know about that much, but I do know one thing– this is going to be the Mahomes meme that follows him around forever. Every all-time great athlete in the modern era has one shot at a viral meme that will forever be associated with their names. If they’re lucky, it’s something super cool like LeBron James‘ look of intensity during Game 6 against Boston in 2012. If you are unlucky, it’s Tom Brady’s big jacket meme. Or The Manningface.

This is going to be Mahomes’ meme. The one people send out when the game is on the line and the Chiefs have the ball. The one that says the other team should be very afraid of what Mahomes is about to do.

It’s going to have some legs, too. The superstar QB is somehow only 28 years old. Who knows what the concept of “memes” will look like in 10 years but I feel confident in saying the picture above has at least five years of use. Be prepared.