Andy Reid breaks down Chiefs' Super Bowl 58-winning 'Tom and Jerry' play

It's the second overtime game in Super Bowl history, and you're in the thick of it. Down by three points, you need a touchdown to win the game and you're just three yards away from the promised land. There, you'll be greeted by confetti and champagne showers, with months of parades and praises ahead. Three more yards. That's all you need for football immortality.

It's no guarantee, of course. In football, nothing ever is. With the wrong play call here, you can easily sound your own death knell. Just ask Pete Carroll's Seattle Seahawks, whose entire season went to waste with just one wrong call in Super Bowl LXIX.

So which play do you call?

That's the decision Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid had to make in Super Bowl LVIII. Kansas City had the ball on the San Francisco 49ers' three-yard line, down 22-19.

The anatomy of Andy Reid's game-winning play call in Super Bowl LVIII

For Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, the game-winning play call was Tiger 12 Gun Trips Right Bunch F-Shuttle.

Tiger 12 denotes the personnel package. 12 personnel, which the Chiefs relied on heavily throughout the 2023 NFL season, deploys one running back and two tight ends — a grouping that generally indicates a running play.

Gun Trips Right Bunch is the formation. The shotgun formation places the two tight ends in a tight set on the right with one receiver on the outside. The running back is aligned to the right of the quarterback, which leaves a lone receiver aligned on the left side of the formation.

F-Shuttle instructs the wide receiver on the bunch side of the field to go in a zipper motion prior to the snap.

"We call it Tom and Jerry," Reid told NBC's Peter King.

The play is a variation of last year's iconic play, Corn Dog, "with some mustard and ketchup." Leave it to Andy Reid to associate play calls with food items.

How the Chiefs scored the game-winning touchdown against the 49ers

Jet Chip Wasp. Corn Dog. Tom and Jerry. Those are the three play calls that helped Reid win his three Super Bowl championships. In Super Bowl LVIII, it was Tom and Jerry's turn to shine.

The tight formation puts stress on the secondary, especially in the red zone. Defensive backs have to communicate assignments based on various route combinations that could come their way. The motion only makes it tougher, since it leaves the cornerbacks little time to switch coverage assignments right before the ball is snapped.

The Chiefs' tight ends pulled 49ers defensive backs Charvarius Ward and Ji'Ayir Brown to the middle of the field. In the "F-Shuttle" role, wide receiver Mecole Hardman faked a jet motion to the inside, which made safety Logan Ryan lean inside. From there, the chess match was won. Hardman cut off his motion and reversed back outside towards the front pylon, and Ryan no longer had the leverage to catch him. Hardman gained enough separation for the game-winning touchdown. After that, it was an easy layup to seal the Super Bowl.

Should the 49ers have been prepared to stop the play?

To cover the play, the defensive backs would have needed to be prepared for the motion and switch assignments on the fly.

Perhaps the 49ers should have been prepared. After all, the Chiefs used this same motion to score two red zone touchdowns in Super Bowl LVII against the Philadelphia Eagles, albeit from a different formation.

“The call was different, but it’s like the same exact motion as ‘Corn Dog,’” Mahomes said to CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson after the win.

"Corn Dog" sent a perimeter receiver in motion pre-snap to misdirect the defender to the inside before turning back toward the sideline. The first touchdown came in the fourth quarter, when the Chiefs pre-snap motion baited Eagles cornerback Darius Slay inside, leaving wide receiver Kadarius Toney open for a five-yard touchdown with 12:08 left in the game. The Chiefs went back to the motion on the left side of the field and hit wide receiver Skyy Moore for a touchdown with 9:26 left in the game.

"We built Corn Dog saying, ‘Well, for sure [the 49ers will] cover Corn Dog because we called it twice. They’ve seen it,'" Andy Reid told King.

But the 49ers didn't cover it. If they were prepared for it, perhaps they could have had their own Malcolm Butler moment. Instead, the Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl champions.