Patrick Mahomes Shares ‘Pokemon’ Inspiration for Super Bowl Trick Play

The Chiefs ran a play called ‘gotta catch ’em all,’ to no avail.

While the Chiefs has an incredible second half to comeback and beat the Eagles at Super Bowl LVII, one attempted fourth-quarter trick play blew up for Patrick Mahomes almost immediately. 

Up 28–27 with just over 9:30 left to play, Mahomes and five other Chiefs players ran in a confusing circle around the quarterback’s shotgun position before lining up with the rest of the offense. As a result, right tackle Andrew Wylie entered the formation as an eligible receiver, with the hope being that the Eagles wouldn’t think to cover him and he could catch an easy touchdown pass.

Instead, safety Marcus Epps identified him as the target immediately and covered him, which Mahomes picked up on, leading him to throw the ball out of the end zone.

The MVP was asked about the play during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live and expressed his frustration with the blown trick play. 

“We worked on that play for so long,” Mahomes said on Monday night’s show. “We tried to disguise it with all of that different stuff happening before the snap, and then I saw No. 22 point directly at the guy I was going to throw it to, and I was like, ‘I don’t know if I like my lineman matched up on the DB.’ Man, the worst.”

He added that Wylie’s love for Pokémon was the inspiration for both the play and formation names.

“So, Wylie—who was the guy we were trying to get the ball to—is a big Pokémon collector. So it was a Pikachu formation and it was called ‘gotta catch ’em all.’”

While you can try to catch ’em all, sometimes it’s better to just chuck a ball through the back of the end zone and live to play another down. Mahomes clearly knows that lesson well, and it served him well en route to his second Super Bowl title.