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Chiefs' Mecole Hardman: I 'Blacked Out' After Catching Game-Winning Super Bowl TD

Doric SamFebruary 12, 2024

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - FEBRUARY 11: Mecole Hardman Jr. #12 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates with Patrick Mahomes #15 after scoring the game-winning touchdown in overtime to defeat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 during Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium on February 11, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

After catching the game-winning touchdown in the Kansas City Chiefs' 25-22 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday, receiver Mecole Hardman Jr. was so overwhelmed with joy that he didn't know what just happened.

Hardman told the CBS broadcast team, "I ain't gonna lie, man, I caught that pass and I blacked out. I didn't know what was going on until I seen Pat running to me and I'm like, 'Oh, we just won, let's celebrate."

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"I caught that pass and I blacked out." - Mecole Hardman <a href="https://t.co/ESd894cgU2">pic.twitter.com/ESd894cgU2</a>

Hardman recorded three catches for 57 yards in Sunday's victory. He capped a 13-play, 75-yard drive in overtime with a three-yard touchdown reception from Patrick Mahomes to give Kansas City its second straight Super Bowl win and its third in the last five years.

The monumental moment capped an eventful season for Hardman that began with disappointment. After signing a one-year deal with the New York Jets, he quickly fell out of the lineup and recorded just one catch in five games before being traded back to the Chiefs, with whom he spent the first four years of his NFL career.

Hardman expressed his early-season frustration to ESPN's Rich Cimini in October, saying, "When I was in KC, I proved that I was probably the most dangerous guy in the league on the jet sweep or the end-around or on the screen. I think I proved year out that I was that guy that you had to worry about doing that."

It didn't take a gadget play for Hardman to become a Super Bowl hero, and now he heads into free agency for the second straight offseason. It will be interesting to see if the Chiefs choose to keep him around this time after he helped secure another title for the franchise.