In a Super Bowl that many believed would be a passing of the torch from generation to generation, the Kansas City Chiefs went against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Chiefs were a team that everyone expected to be in the Super Bowl. The defending champions, led by the great Patrick Mahomes, were the heavy favorites, as they had a high-powered offense with multiple weapons, namely Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were a team that not everyone thought would make it. Being led by Tom Brady, they had just come off beating the best-ranked team in the NFC, the Green Bay Packers. The six-time champion had a spectacular first half, but a not-so-great second half. Nonetheless, the underdog Buccaneers came out victorious to lead Brady to his tenth Super Bowl appearance. With the Buccaneers winning, they would become the first team to ever play the Super Bowl at their home stadium.
The game began with the National Anthem, sung by Eric Church and Jazmine Sullivan. On the ensuing coin flip, the Chiefs called heads, which was correct. The Chiefs declined, and the Buccaneers would receive the ball first. With that being said, the Chiefs kicked off, and the ball was taken out of the endzone to around the 25 yards line. Tom Brady came out for his tenth Super Bowl appearance, but the first drive was unsuccessful, as they went three and out. After a solid punt, the Chiefs got their shot to score. Mahomes came out, but to no avail, as they were forced to punt as well. The first score of the game came as a Kansas City field goal in the middle of the first quarter. Then after a very effective drive, Tom Brady threw a check-down pass to long-time teammate Rob Gronkowski for an 8-yard touchdown. After some more ineffective drives, the first quarter of football ended 7-3, with the Buccaneers in the lead.
The second quarter began, and it wasn’t too eventful until the middle. Both teams were playing stellar defense, as Mahomes was being swarmed by Tampa Bay defensive lineman, and the Buccaneers receivers were having a hard time getting open with the Chiefs tough secondary following them step by step. Tom Brady and running back Leonard Fournette had begun to get the Chiefs defense frustrated and worn out with about 9 minutes to go in the second. Brady was very successful in drawing flags from both the secondary and the lineman. Multiple flags were called, and a game-changing interception by Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu was called back due to a holding penalty on corner Charvarious Ward. The Chiefs defense held strong after this, forcing a field goal. However, an offsides was called on the kick, giving Tampa an automatic first down. This was enough for Tom Brady, as he then found Rob Gronkowski again for a 17-yard touchdown, making it 14-3. The Chiefs were not about to quit, as they stomped down the field next to try and make the margin smaller. They wanted a touchdown, but they didn’t get it, as they were forced to a field goal, making it 14-6. With about one minute left on the clock and halftime drawing near, the Bucs offense wanted more points to try and out Kansas City away early. They did exactly so, going 71 yards in 5 plays and 55 seconds, capping it off with a one-yard touchdown to Antonio Brown, making the score 21-6. The clock is all zeros in the second quarter, and the Halftime Show by The Weeknd was underway.
The Weeknd sang a series of his top charting hits such as “Starboy”, “I Feel it Coming” and his new hit “Blinding Lights”. The singer came out in a red bedazzled suit. His performance also had a ton of backup dancers out on the field and a bunch of choir and band performers in the background. There were many props for most of The Weeknd’s performances. The performance was based on a Vegas theme.
After the performance from The Weeknd, the second half of football was underway. Kansas City received the ball and were ready to start a comeback. In order to have a chance to win, they needed to score on this drive, which they did. They went 47 yards in 7 plays, capped off by a Harrison Butker field goal. Tampa wanted to make this game unwinnable for Kansas City, and if they scored a touchdown, they could achieve that goal. The Buccaneers had a drive going, and they had gotten to the Kansas City 27 yard line. Brady handed the ball off to Leonard Fournette, who ran the ball into the endzone absolutely untouched. The score was now 28-9, and the Chiefs hopes of winning only got slimmer. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs came back on the field, hoping for things to finally swing their way. On the third play of the drive, Mahomes unloaded a pass for Tyreek Hill, which was tipped and intercepted by rookie safety Antoine Winfield Jr. The Bucs then went down the field and kicked another field goal, making it 31-9 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
The 4th quarter was scoreless, as Tampa drained as much clock as possible to make a comeback improbable. Mahomes was running for his life on every single play. The Tampa Bay defensive line was blowing past the O=line with ease, and Mahomes had nothing else to do but run in circles. Mahomes was doing everything he could in order to not get sacked, including throwing 30-yard passes while falling down and leaning sideways. On a crucial fourth down, Kansas City threw an incomplete pass intended to Tyreek Hill. After the play, safety Antoine Winfield Jr. threw up Hill’s signature peace sign right in his face. The gesture earned Winfield an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, but it didn’t affect much of the game. With about three minutes left in the game, the Chiefs had finally gotten a drive going, and they were close to their first touchdown of the game. However, a Mahomes pass was tipped and intercepted by rookie linebacker Devin White, and the game was finally over.
Tom Brady won the Super Bowl MVP Award, throwing for 201 yards and 3 touchdowns. The defense forced Mahomes to run for an accumulated 497 yards in the backfield, the main factor as to why Kansas City was held to only 9 points. This Super Bowl win was Tampa Bay’s second in franchise history, and Tom Brady’s 7th in his career.
