Chiefs and 49ers remember Kobe Bryant

MIAMI — It wasn’t like a teenage Tyrann Mathieu didn’t grasp the possibilities that beckoned him as a budding athlete growing up in New Orleans. He was astonishingly fast and athletic and all you had to do was watch him dominate whatever football field he set foot on to know he’d been blessed with next-level instincts.

If he simply played his cards right, a career in pro football was within his reach.

But Mathieu yearned for much more than just a career. And the inspiration for wanting to climb even higher and reach even farther was Kobe Bryant, who was dominating basketball nearly 2,000 miles away in Los Angeles with a relentless competitiveness and work ethic that captured Mathieu’s imagination.

“He sparked the mind of every competitor,” Mathieu said.

All the more reason Mathieu remained in a disbelieving state of mourning Monday when he and his Kansas City Chiefs teammates, as well as the San Francisco 49ers, met with the media at Super Bowl LIV Live at Marlins Park.

A day after Bryant was killed in a helicopter accident in Southern California along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other passengers, the Chiefs safety was still trying to process a tragedy so far-reaching it overshadowed the opening of Super Bowl week.

“I’m sad,” said Mathieu. “I’m shocked.”

Bryant was especially important to the generation of players in Super Bowl LIV. Most of the best seasons of his illustrious career occurred during their formative years. Many, like Mathieu, used the Mamba Mentality that Bryant created and personified to push themselves to be better than they originally imagined.

“Growing up (in California) I didn’t have a father that I knew at the moment,” said Chiefs linebacker Frank Clark. “So growing up, I had always looked to somebody for that leadership and for that role to figure out what I wanted to do in my sports. Someone to follow. … Kobe was the first person I idolized and the only person I’ve ever idolized.”

Said Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes: “The impact that he made in my life, it was huge. The way he was able to go about every single day … the work ethic and the intensity that he had to be great, every single day. And even to this day, now, I still watch videos on YouTube the day before games and just listen to him talk and how he puts everything in perspective of being great. On and off the field.”

Mathieu can relate.

“He made us all dig a little bit deeper. He made us want to be great,” Mathieu said. “And in order to be great he understood he had to work towards it. It wasn’t always going to be easy. But it’s the right thing to do. And I think that’s Kobe.”

Bryant’s death cut especially deep for 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman, who grew up a stone’s throw from Staples Center in the Los Angeles suburb of Compton and is an unabashed Lakers fan.

In many ways Sherman’s climb out of Compton to Stanford, where he graduated in four years, and on to NFL stardom is a tribute to a player he once worshiped only to eventually befriend.

“He gave me a ton of inspiration,” Sherman said. “I’m sure he inspired millions and billions and trillions of other kids.”

Still “in the dumps” Monday over Bryant’s death, Sherman began pondering what the sports great might tell him to snap him out of his funk. The voice and words Sherman imagined hearing were a stern reminder of what is at stake this week.

And it was pure Kobe Bryant.

“Stop being a baby, man up and play it” is what Sherman imagined Bryant telling him about Sunday’s Super Bowl.

By late Monday night, Sherman was already itching to get on the field.

“I’m going to try and play some dominating ball. Just like he wanted,” Sherman said. “The Mamba Mentality still lives.”

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore onTwitter.