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Winning a championship in professional sports is extremely difficult. In the National Football League, 12 of the league’s 32 teams have never won a Super Bowl title, while four franchises […]
Winning a championship in professional sports is extremely difficult. In the National Football League, 12 of the league’s 32 teams have never won a Super Bowl title, while four franchises have yet to even appear in the game. There has been 58 Super Bowls now, but with franchises like the San Franciso 49ers, New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, and New York Giants eating up a significant chunk of those championships, it becomes clear to see why there hasn’t been enough Super Bowls to go around to give every team a turn at the top.
Winning back-to-back Super Bowls is an even rarer feat. This has been accomplished eight times in NFL history, by seven different franchises. But the Super Bowl was in the midst of it’s longest stretch without a repeat champion: the previous longest drought was eight seasons, from Super Bowl 15 to Super Bowl 22. The most recent team to pull off back-to-back Super Bowl wins was Tom Brady and Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots in Super Bowls 38 and 39.
Now, twenty years later in Super Bowl 58, Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, and the Kansas City Chiefs have joined the ranks of the best teams in NFL history, pulling off back-to-back Super Bowl titles. After defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 in a thrilling Super Bowl 57 victory last season, the Chiefs upped the drama even more in Super Bowl 58, needing overtime in order to defeat the San Francisco 49ers 19-16 and hoist the Lombardi Trophy once again.
Like many of the teams that have gone back-to-back, these aren’t the only Super Bowl titles that Kansas City has won in recent memory: the Chiefs also won Super Bowl 54 (also against the San Francisco 49ers) and participated in Super Bowl 55. The word dynasty isn’t just being whispered in Kansas City: it’s officially here.
For reference, no team has ever won three Super Bowls in a row.
Both the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers possess strong defenses, capable of holding their own in the Super Bowl. But both teams also feature elite offensive weapons and one of the greatest players of all-time at the quarterback position: an extremely low-scoring game isn’t really what anyone expected.
But at halftime, there wasn’t too much to write home about. Both teams traded fumbles and short drives, with Brock Purdy and the 49ers finding just a bit more success in the first two quarters. The first half’s lone touchdown came on a trick play, with multi-talented wide receiver Deebo Samuel lofting a pass to star running back Christian McCaffrey, who took care of the rest to find the endzone.
The score was 10-3 San Francisco as Usher and friends took the stage for the Apple Music halftime show. It was a pretty poor showing for the Chiefs offense (although Mahomes was efficient, completing 11-of-13 passes) but still, being down just one score in the Super Bowl felt pretty manageable for this Chiefs team, with all their playoff experience.
If I was a 49ers fan, I would be kicking something every time I watched the beginning of the second half highlights. The Chiefs got the ball after halftime, only for Patrick Mahomes to toss an interception with 13:31 left in the third quarter. But Purdy and the 49ers didn’t capitalize on the rare mistake, giving the ball back just three plays and 1:11 of game time later. San Francisco’s defense forced a Kansas City punt, with the Chiefs offense starting deep in their own territory. And once again, the 49ers mustered nothing much, punting again without gaining a first down.
At this point, there’s still 9:02 left in the third quarter, with the score still 10-3 49ers. Of course it isn’t fair to expect a score on every drive, but if the 49ers offense could have mustered even a field goal (but ideally a touchdown) on either of these two drives, the complexion of the game would have changed completely. The Chiefs were only able to hang around possession after possession because, eventually, Kansas City only needed three points in big moments, taking the pressure of “touchdown or lose the Super Bowl” off the table.
It’s at this 9:02 mark that the Chiefs fortunes started changing, by no coincidence that Mahomes started using his legs to gain yards a bit more. It still wasn’t a “the Chiefs are so back” drive though, as it only ended in a 56-yardHarrison Butker field goal (the new longest field goal in Super Bowl history, breaking 49ers rookie Jake Moody’s record he set in the first half.)
The 49ers failed to score again on their next drive, but the stout defense forced another Chiefs punt as well. But this is where things really started to get wacky: the 49ers punt returner attempted to scoop the ball, putting it in play, and ultimately Kansas City came away with the ball, an extra possession, and excellent field position. A few plays later Mahomes found Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a go-ahead touchdown, making the score 13-10 Chiefs. Again, the 49ers have held the ball three times in the second half at this point, and failed to extend their first half lead.
With 14:09 left in the fourth quarter, Purdy missed an open Deebo Samuel in the endzone. The 49ers would still score a touchdown on the drive, at the 11:22 mark, but it’s another small “what if” moment with time becoming a big factor down the stretch. In an even bigger “what if” turn of events, the Chiefs were able to block Jake Moody’s extra point attempt, keeping the score 16-13. What if the Chiefs were down four on their next drive instead of just needing three?
Kansas City marched the ball down the field before stalling in the red zone, with Mahomes taking a sack on third-and-goal with 6:35 to play. With 5:46 on the clock, Butker knocked through a short field goal to tie the game at 16-16.
San Francisco squeezed out a 53-yard field goal from Moody to give themselves a 19-16 lead with 1:53 to play: unfortunately a nearly ideal situation for a player of Mahomes’ experience and caliber. Mahomes found Travis Kelce (who did not score in the game) for a big gain that basically gave the Chiefs a field goal shot: but Andy Reid did opt to try and go for the kill, giving Mahomes a shot at Kelce in the endzone. Kansas City settled for a field goal, essentially sending the game to overtime at 19-19.
In a statistic that I still find surprising, only two Super Bowls have now gone to overtime. This one also happened to be the first one under new rules: rules that ensure both teams get the football regardless of whether the first team scores a field goal or touchdown. The 49ers won the toss, got the ball first, and managed a field goal (their drive was almost halted early on a 3rd-and-13 miss that was nullified due to a Chiefs holding penalty.)
Now, just like it was for most of the second half of the game, the Chiefs just needed a field goal to extend the game and their season: monumentally less pressure than needing a touchdown. The Chiefs stalled a little early, facing a 4th-and-1, but Mahomes turned on the Jets when necessary. Valdes-Scantling, a hero earlier, also had a gaffe where he gave up his forward progress and ran backwards, complicating the drive. But when it mattered, Mahomes got the ball down field. Kelce gained about nine of the final thirteen yards towards San Francisco’s endzone on a screen play of sorts, and with the final seconds ticking in the first overtime period (it would not have mattered if hit 0:00,) Mahomes rolled out and hit a wide open Mecole Hardman to give the Chiefs a 25-22 win and a Super Bowl victory for the second time in two years.
Header Photo Credit: The Daily Star
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