The 100th year of the National Football League ended in Miami with the 54th Super Bowl. The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49er are the top two teams in the league both with long championship droughts. The Super Bowl turned out to be one great game. 

The Kansas City Chiefs, who were 12-4 on the season are representing the AFC and the San Francisco 49ers, who went 13-3 are representing the NFC. The Chiefs have one of the most lethal offenses in the league, averaging 43 points per game in the postseason. The 49ers have one of the most dominant defenses in the league and have three running backs with 500-plus yards rushing each. Super Bowl LIV shaped up to be a close game with the Chiefs being a 1.5 favorite in the most recent odds for winning the Super Bowl.

“I felt that it was a good game. It was close all game long and kept you on the edge of your seat. Both teams put a lot of emotion into it. I felt there were a few bad calls for both teams but overall I’m happy for Andy Reid and Mahomes. They deserve a ring.” said Triton senior Will Gundrum

The 49ers won the coin toss to begin the game and elected to defer, meaning Kansis City got the ball. On the first drive of the game the Chiefs went three and out and punted the ball away. On San Francisco’s first drive of the game they took the ball 62 yards and put the first points of the game up with a field goal. Then the Chiefs came right back at the 49ers scoring a touchdown with Patrick Mahomes running the ball in from the 1 yard line. As the first quarter came to an end the Chiefs were up 7-3. 

In the second quarter on the second play of the quarter Jimmy Garoppolo got pressured by Chris Jones a defensive tackle for the Chiefs and made a terrible decision by throwing the ball up, making it an easy interception for cornerback Bashaud Breeland. Then Sammy Watckins had a 28 yard reception putting Kansas City in field goal range, which the Chiefs would end up settling for making the score 10-3. On the 49ers next drive they went 80 yards down the field with Jimmy Garoppolo going three for three on pass attempts for 42 yards and a passing touchdown to fullback Kylie Juszczyk. That was the last score before half meaning both teams went into the locker room at halftime all tied up at 10-10. 

After the halftime show the 49ers got the ball and moved 52 yards down the field on five plays until the 49ers got stopped on third down and kicked a field goal giving the 49ers their first lead of the game. Then on Kansas City’s next drive Patrick Mahomes threw a pick to the 49ers linebacker Fred Warner. After this turnover the 49ers marched down the field again and running back Raheem Mostert ran it in from a yard out, making the score 20-10 49ers going into the fourth quarter. 

Then the fourth quarter came with action and controversy , “The Chiefs didn’t show up until the 4th quarter of the game,” said Dylan Bistany and Kiefer Calawart said “The entire Chiefs defense should’ve won MVP and Mahomes was atrocious until the 4th quarter.” The start of the fourth quarter didn’t go as planned for as “Mahomes threw behind Tyreek Hill. The ball deflected off his hands and into the waiting arms of 49ers safety Tarvarius Moore,” according to Bleacher Report. Yet, the Kansas City defense gets a stop and shifts momentum back to Kansas City and they don’t let it go to waste. Patrick Mahomes went down the field with a 44- yard play to Tyrek Hill and scored a touchdown from one yard out with a touchdown reception from Travis Kelce making the score 20-17. As the 49ers offense stalls out again they are forced to put the ball back to Kansas City. The Chiefs offenses didn’t slow down as Mahomes went five- for- five on pass attempts for 60 yards and a passing touchdown to Damien Williams. Then the Chiefs took the lead back making it 24-20. There was 2:44 left on the clock with a chance for Jimmy Garoppolo to lead his team on a game-winning drive just like the man he was a backup for had done so many times, but it wasn’t in the cards for Garoppolo as the 49ers offense couldn’t get anything going. On 3rd down Garoppolo overthrew his receive that if completed would have put them in a first ingoal situation and then on 4th down Garoppolo gets sacked for a turnover on downs. Then as the Chiefs just needed a first down Damien Williams breaks off a 38 yard run to put Kansas City up 31-20 and seal the win for the Kansas City Chiefs. 

There were a lot of get plays in the Super Bowl and a lot of blame too spread around for the San Francisco 49ers. Some people think players like Richard Sherman cost them the game by letting up big plays to Tyrek Hill and Sammy Watkins, “Richard Sherman is too old for football,” said by Junior Joe Delmonico. Others talked about the poor coaching, “Kyle Shanahan is probably the worst coach you could have in a SuperBowl game.” said by senior Jack Crocker. He is referring to how Kyle Shanahan has let up the two biggest leads in super bowl history. The 25 point lead he had in Super Bowl 51 against the New England Patriots and the 10 point lead he had in the fourth quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs. 

The Super Bowl was a great game to watch and capped off the season very well with a back and forth game. Congratulations to the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs and Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes on a great season.