Super Bowl Wrap Up

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you all enjoyed watching the Super Bowl yesterday – what a game it was.

The Kansas City Chiefs came from behind to take down the 49ers in a thrilling overtime win that had it all. Kansas City has officially cemented itself as a proven 21st century dynasty, with Mahomes putting himself in a legitimate position to chase Tom Brady for G.O.A.T. status. I had previously picked the Chiefs to win the game, but I'd be a fool to think the game would go exactly the way it did. Let's dive into what happened.

Starting off with both teams gameplan it was clear what the two teams wanted to do on both sides of the ball. Steve Spagnuolo and the Chiefs defense had success blitzing all year and they did just that all game against the 49ers, bringing pressure over 50% of their defensive snaps. The Niners responded by running right at the Kansas City front in the first half, letting Christian McCaffery take the majority of the touches.

On the opposite sides of the ball, the Niners committed to playing tight man coverage like they had all year, and shadowed Travis Kelce using Dre Greenlaw and Fred Warner. It was clear that the Chiefs wanted to establish the run game with Isaiah Pacheco in the first half, but the Niners defense completely contained the run game.

The first half was a slow defensive battle, something that we've seen happen fairly consistently in some of the recent Super Bowls. The reason this happens is the extra week that defensive coaches get to gameplan. Because there are two weeks in between the conference championship and the Super Bowl, coaches get double the time to study their opponents and work on a strategy to stop their opponents.

Sure, offensive coaches get to do the same thing, but it's much easier for defenses to switch up fronts, formations, and coverages than it is for offenses to install completely new playstyles and gameplans. Offenses have their bread and butter, and no matter how many wrinkles you want to put in, to be a dominant offense you must stick to your weapons and what got you there. Look at the Ravens for example. They tried to go away from their league-leading run game in the AFC Championship game, and it stalled their offense, which is exactly why they watched the Super Bowl from their couches and not on the sidelines.

Getting back to the game, the second half continued to be slow, until things started heating up in the fourth quarter, where the game turned into a lead-exchanging thriller. The Chiefs offense started to give up on the run game, which turned out helping them. Mahomes was able to get the ball to Travis Kelce late in the game and really give life back to a stagnant Kansas City offense.

Purdy played well for the most part during regulation but did miss some big throws that could have put the game out of reach, including a ball to Deebo Samuel that would have been a touchdown if the ball was on target. Shoutout to Jauan Jennings too, he became the only player other than Nick Foles to catch and throw for a touchdown in Super Bowl history. He was well on the way to a Super Bowl MVP award until the Niners just missed out.

Nevertheless, the game went to overtime, and I have to say, I absolutely would have chosen to be on defense first if I were the Niners. I get if both teams score a touchdown, they would then have the ball first in a sudden death situation, but I would much rather know what kind of score I need to win the game.

As we watched, the Niners decided to kick a field goal and put faith in their defense to keep Mahomes out of the endzone. Mahomes instead went a perfect 8-of-8 for 42 yards and a touchdown on his game-winning drive in overtime, and also came up with a vital fourth-down conversion to keep his team alive earlier in the overtime drive.

It just feels like Patrick Mahomes can beat any kind of gameplan no matter what you throw at him. With three Super Bowls, three Super Bowl MVPs, and two league MVPs in just six seasons Mahomes is off to arguably the greatest start to a career for any quarterback in NFL history. The Chiefs now have the rare chance to three-peat, something that has never been done in the long history of the league.

As a Cowboy fan, and professional hater of all great teams, I would love to see another team take down the Chiefs next year. I would love to see my Cowboys do it, but let's not be ridiculous. My official way too early prediction for next year's Super Bowl winner is... Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. They will be back, and they will be a really good team.

That officially wraps up the NFL season. It was a fun year, and I already miss football. The good news is we now still have a wide variety of sports topics and teams to talk about. We'll be back to talk more on Friday.

John Stanley

Content Writer