Kansas City Chiefs' Travis Kelce dedicated their Super Bowl comeback win to head coach Andy Reid after earlier barging into the 65-year-old and shouting in his face.
Kelce, whose high-profile relationship with pop star Taylor Swift meant there was even greater focus on him and the game, was unhappy about not being on the field in the first quarter when Isiah Pacheco fumbled the ball with the Chiefs eight yards out and looking for their first touchdown.
Reid was knocked off balance but made little of the incident and, when Patrick Mahomes threw the match-winning touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman Jr to secure a 25-22 overtime win, all was forgotten.
"Oh you guys saw that?" Kelce told CBS when asked about it immediately after the game.
"I’m going to keep that between us unless my mic’d up tells the world but I was just telling him how much I love him."
Speaking on ESPN SportsCenter Kelce, who shared a kiss on the pitch with Swift after she flew in from her Eras Tour show in Tokyo the day before, added: "Man, I was fired up - I was fired up that we weren’t hitting on all cylinders.
"I had to give 'Big Red’ a love tap and let him know that we were all here fighting for him no matter what. I just had to tell him I loved him real quick.
"I put so much trust in him and how he goes about being a head coach, as a leader - he’s one of the best leaders in the game.
"I can’t thank him enough for giving me opportunities year in, year out. This third one, this second one back-to-back, this one’s for him, no doubt."
Talking to reporters Kelce added: "I’ve got the greatest coach this game has ever seen.
"He’s helped me a lot with channelling that emotion, channelling that passion and I owe my entire career to that guy and being able to control how emotional I get. I just love him."
The experienced Reid, who won his third Super Bowl title, played down the incident telling ESPN: "He came over and gave me a hug, said ‘Sorry about that".
"He just wants to be on the field and he wants to play. There’s nobody I get better than I get him. He’s a competitive kid, and he loves to play. He makes me feel young."
In his post-match press conference the head coach added: "He caught me off-balance – he tested that hip out. Normally I get him a little bit but I didn’t have any feet under me.
"As much as he bumps into me, I get after him. We understand that. He just caught me off balance."
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes also hailed his boss Reid as the best of all-time, saying he "knows when to call those plays at the right time.
"He's one of the best coaches of all time, I believe he is the best coach of all time.
"I know he didn’t have the trophies yet, and I have a lot of respect for some of those great coaches, but the way he is able to navigate every single team he has, continue to have success no matter where he is at.
"For me, he brings out the best in me because he lets me be me. He doesn’t try to make me anyone else, I don’t think I would be the quarterback that I am if I didn’t have coach Reid being my head coach."
San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan - who endured his third Super Bowl loss as a coach - said the team is "hurting".
"If I am going to lose with a group of guys, I'd do it with those guys anytime and we’ll take some time, we’ll get over this and come back next year ready to go.
"That was the toughest defence we have been against this year, we knew it going into the game, that is a good group. We had our chances and needed to score a couple of touchdowns and we didn’t but I was happy with (quarterback) Brock (Purdy)."
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