Super Bowl Preview

Happy Monday y'all, I hope the month of January is wrapping up nicely for everybody. We now know what our Superbowl matchup will be, so let's go over yesterday's games.

Ahh, Lamar Jackson, he just can't get over the playoff struggle narrative. I have to be honest; I wasn't able to watch many Ravens games this year, but the ones I did watch went much differently than their matchup with the Chiefs.

The Ravens just could not get anything going in the first half. Apart from a wild improvised play by Lamar Jackson and Zay Flowers, the Ravens could not do anything on offense. The Chiefs on the other hand had two long, meticulous drives down the field and found paydirt on both, setting up a 14-7 lead right before halftime.

They Ravens could have held before half, but instead committed two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties to set up a 52-yard field goal to go into halftime with a 17-7 lead plus the ball coming out of half.

The Chiefs dominated the first half, and Lamar completed only 5 of 12 passes for 67 yards and a touchdown but also lost a fumble. The Chiefs dominated Baltimore and had 16 first downs to the Ravens' five. Mahomes played a near perfect first half, starting the game 16-16 over 150 yards and a touchdown, and finishing the first half completing 20 of his first 25 attempts.

As bad as that sounds, the Ravens still had numerous chances to win this game. The second half was agonizing for Ravens fans. The defense locked in and completely contained Mahomes and the Chiefs, but the offense threw away two great drives, turning the ball over twice in the redzone.

Zay Flowers had a huge reception down the sideline to take the Ravens into the redzone but committed a taunting penalty at the end of the play. The Ravens worked through it, but then just when it looked like the Ravens were right back in this game, Flowers reached for the endzone but fumbled due to a punch from L'Jarius Sneed. The Chiefs recovered it in the endzone to get the ball back and hold the Ravens scoreless on the drive.

Later in the game, Lamar threw a ball to Isaiah Likely in triple coverage which was picked off in the endzone. If either of these drives ended in a touchdown for the Ravens, this game would have looked completely different.

The Ravens eventually kicked a field goal and actually put the Chiefs in a third down situation where they had the chance to get off the field and give their offense one more shot to tie the game up. But Mahomes and Marques Valdes-Scantling hooked up on a gutsy long pass to ice the game.

What baffles me is the Raven's decision to completely abandon the run game in the second half, and really didn't run the ball in the first half either. The number one rushing offense in the entire league only attempted ten rushes in their biggest game of the last decade. Lamar Jackson is not a pocket passer, yet he dropped back on 82% of snaps during the game. Really just puzzling stuff gameplan wise from the Ravens coaching staff.

So, once again, Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and the Chiefs are in the Super Bowl. That marks four out of the last six years the Chiefs had made it. Patrick Mahomes has made it to the Super Bowl more than half the years he's been a starter in the NFL. He's a stud.

Moving on, the Lions 49ers game was a masterclass in how not to manage a game. The Lions had one hand on their first ever Super Bowl appearance and lost it in the matter of one quarter.

The Lions dominated the first half, starting fast with a 42-yard touchdown run from Jameson Williams. The Lions continued to dominate, going into halftime up 24-7. It was the perfect start, and the Lions were well on their way to a franchise defining win. Unfortunately, things went as badly as they could in the second half.

After a Jake Moody 43-yard field goal, the Lions took the ball up 24-10 and started driving. They took it down to the 49ers' 28-yard line but decided to go for it on fourth down instead of attempting a field goal and potentially making it a three-possession game. They ended up failing to convert the 4th & 2 on a Jared Goff to Josh Reynolds pass that should have been caught.

A 27-10 lead with just seven minutes left in the third quarter would set up a completely different game than the one we watched play out. Instead, the 49ers took completely control of the momentum, going 72 yards and reaching the endzone in less than two minutes to make it a one-score game at 24-17.

The Lions then turned the ball over via a Jahmyr Gibbs fumble on a broken play that resulted in an awkward handoff. The 49ers capitalized yet again on Detroit's mistake, scoring a 1-yard touchdown to tie the game up before the end of the third quarter, ruining the Lions hot start while also seizing all the momentum.

The Niners forced a Lions three and out after another crucial drop by Josh Reynolds, and then took their first lead of the game with a field goal to go up 27-24. Detroit's next possession took them down to the 49ers' 30-yard line, but yet again Dan Campbell refused to take the points and refused to try and tie the game up. They instead opted to go for it on a 4th & 3, which resulted in an incomplete pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown to turn it over on downs.

I understand the Lions have been aggressive on fourth down all year, but this was for a chance to go to the Superbowl, going for it repeatedly when you're losing a game is one thing, but refusing to kick field goals to keep the game out of reach is flat out the wrong decision.

San Francisco would score another touchdown to bring the lead to 34-24, essential ending any chance of a comeback for the Lions. Detroit would score a late touchdown but couldn't recover their onside kick to keep the game alive.

Miscues, bad decisions, and lack of discipline ended the Lions season, right when it looked like they were headed to a Super Bowl. Brutal stuff from Detroit. For all the Lions fans out there, I feel for you.

49ers open as 2.5-point favorites against the Chiefs and will have the chance for revenge following their Super Bowl loss to Kansas City from four years ago. The Taylor Swift show goes on, against the wishes of most of football fans across the country. And for San Francisco, they'll look to clinch their first Super Bowl win this century.

That's all for today. We'll have to wait a couple weeks for the Super Bowl to arrive, hopefully the matchup is well worth the wait. Have a great week everybody.

John Stanley

Content Writer