Mahomes channeling Kobe Bryant in Super Bowl run

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KTRE) - The death of Kobe Bryant a year ago hit athletes hard with many of them growing up watching the NBA champion.

Patrick Mahomes is one of those athletes that has always felt inspired by Bryant. Mahomes uses that intensity he saw Bryant play with every time he steps foot on the football field.

“Kobe has one of the best mentalities of all time as far as a competitor out there and winning championships, not just winning games,” Mahomes said at Sunday’s AFC Championship game post game press conference. “I take a lot from that of going out there every single day and not being satisfied with where you’re at and like I said, the job’s not finished.”

Mahomes is looking to become the first quarterback to lead a team to back-to-back Super Bowl wins since Brady did it with the Patriots in the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

“When we went into the season, we weren’t talking about going to the Super Bowl, we were talking about winning again and we’re trying to run it back. I’m excited for the opportunity to go out there and play against a great football team and try to do that.”