Chiefs’ Nick Bolton dreamt about ‘surreal’ Super Bowl 2023 scoop-and-score

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Nick Bolton had enough security guards to be confused for one of the VIPs with field access at Super Bowl 2023. 

Bolton scooped up a loose ball and almost immediately three Chiefs teammates were escorting him to the end zone for a 36-yard fumble return that tied the score and temporarily flipped momentum in the second quarter of a 38-35 victory over the Eagles on Sunday. Teams aided by a defensive touchdown in the Super Bowl improved to 16-3. 

“I actually had a dream about scoop-and-scoring and winning the Super Bowl two nights ago,” Bolton said. “For it to happen, it’s surreal.” 

Bolton, a second-round pick in 2021, almost struck again early in the third quarter, when he scooped up what initially was called a Miles Sanders fumble and returned it for a 24-yard touchdown. But replay reviews deemed the Jalen Hurts-to-Sanders pass was incomplete, and the go-ahead score came off the scoreboard. 

“I knew that was incomplete,” Bolton later admitted. 

To understand how big his defensive touchdown was, go back just one previous snap. 

The Eagles were lined up to attempt a quarterback sneak on third-and-1 at the Chiefs’ 47-yard line, which is considered an automatic in their book. Entering the game, the Eagles had converted 32 first downs on quarterback sneaks, including the playoffs, which was 12 more than any other team in the past 15 years. 

But guard Isaac Seomalo was flagged for a false start that set up a third-and-6. Hurts took a shotgun snap and started to run forward, but Bolton was the unblocked fifth rusher who forced Hurts to step backward, at which point the ball slipped out of his hands. Bolton buried Hurts into the ground and was first to the fumble. 

“My left hand might have hit [the ball] as I wrapped him up,” Bolton said. “I was really praying for a good bounce and I got one. It hopped up right in my hands like a shortstop, and I was able to grab it and go.” 

As Bolton reached a top speed of 19.9 mph on his return, the Chiefs’ win-probability at the moment doubled from 27 percent to 54 percent, according to NextGenStats. It was the first fumble return for a touchdown in 41 all-time playoff games for the franchise. 

The Chiefs allowed the final 10 points of the first half but looked like a different defense after halftime. Bolton’s eighth of his team-high nine tackles stopped Kenneth Gainwell short on a third down and forced a field goal that kept the Chiefs’ deficit at one score, 27-21, late in the third quarter. 

How big was that? The Chiefs immediately took the lead and never looked back. 

“That’s how playoff games, ebbs and flows,” Bolton said. “You have to find a way to win at the end.”