Dave Hyde: Oh, Lord, Patrick Mahomes is already talking about three-peat next season

At the end, the worst part is it wasn’t the end.

“We’re not done,” Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes said.

After Kansas City’s second straight Super Bowl, the scariest part is the best player in the game was talking about getting better.

“We’ve got a chance for three in a row — no one’s done that,’’ Mahomes said. “We’re going to have to improve. I’m going to have to improve.”

When Mahomes signed his first big contract a few years back, his big splurge was on a 50-yard football field constructed in his backyard to, “get some extra work in,’’ he said.

When he won his first Super Bowl, he still studied video of former quarterback greats Dan Marino and Brett Favre to watch their signature moves and quick releases and put, “a little of myself,” in their ideas, he said.

When he won a third Super Bowl Sunday night, playing like an improvisational jazzman with the game on the line, Mahomes repeated he wouldn’t be undone by the biggest opponent to all the greats: Success.

“I want more,’’ he said.

This is the worst news for everyone in the AFC, the Miami Dolphins included. The Dolphins aren’t in the conversation. They can’t get past the Buffalo Bills, who can’t get past Kansas City, who have now won in every way possible.

A rising team in 2020 against San Francisco. A rebuilt team in 2022 against Philadelphia. A great defensive team on Sunday night against San Francisco again to end a playoff run of beating the Dolphins, Buffalo and Baltimore — all at least 11-win teams.

An organization need three great talents to achieve sustained success like this: A great general manager like Kansas City’s Brett Veach, great coach like Andy Reid and great quarterback. The Dolphins, like most teams, aren’t in that conversation, either.

Mahomes was the difference in every Super Bowl. Football is a team game built around one individual. Kansas City has the player maybe four other teams hope they have on the right day and all the rest wonder how to get.

He trailed by 10 points Sunday, just like in every Super Bowl he’s won. His offense had three points at half Sunday night. He threw his first interception of the playoffs to start the second half. He was pressured a ridiculous 10 times by San Francisco’s Nick Bosa.

Mahomes was the face of frustration through three quarters. His reliable tight end, Travis Kelce, was angry enough to bump into coach Andy Reid while screaming profanities.

Yet Mahomes ended up passing for 333 yards and running for 66 yards. On fourth-and-1 in overtime, he ran for 8 yards. He ran for 22 the next play. He threw eight-for-eight on the winning drive, including the 3-yard pass to win it to Mecole Hardman, who started the year as a New York Jet.

The Kansas City offense that was kept in the game by its defense ended the Super Bowl with possessions of touchdown, field goal, field goal and touchdown.

“We did it when we needed to do it,’’ Mahomes said.

San Francisco represented the model of teams like the Dolphins this year: A great roster with a creative coach and a good quarterback. But their punt receiving mistake cost a touchdown, they had an extra point blocked and it’s on the details their night was lost.

The Dolphins, meanwhile, are trending to a model like Kansas City if they pay quarterback Tua Tagovailoa big money. That takes down his salary-cap cost next year before causing tough roster decisions across its length.

Look at Kansas City’s rag-tag offense on Sunday. A line of spare parts. Young receivers who haven’t developed. A good running back, because every team has one. Kelce is a star, even at 34.

Kansas City won because of a defense led by tackle Chris Jone and because of Mahomes. Kansas City is the next New England. It’s a dynasty with legs because Mahomes is Tom Brady.

Maybe Brady saw this coming. When New England beat Kansas City in the 2018 season’s AFC Championship in overtime, 37-31, Brady made the rare trip to the loser’s locker room to find Mahomes.

“Just stay with the process and keep being who you are,’’ Mahomes remembered Brady advising him.

Now Mahomes was standing in a swirl of confetti, saying again how, “We’ll celebrate this and come back hungry. No team’s won three in a row.”

The question for 31 other teams: How do you stop him?