It’s finally here. It has been exactly 150 days, and after 21 long weeks of football, pandemic craziness, wild finishes, incredible games, and the most unpredictable season ever, only two teams remain. It is officially Super Bowl Sunday. Tonight, the Kansas City Chiefs will look to repeat as champions as they take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Florida. And boy, is it going to be a doozy.
There’s not a lot I can tell you about this game that hasn’t already been said before. All the storylines write themselves. The Kid vs. The GOAT. The NFL’s potential next dynasty vs. the man who orchestrated its greatest one. KC looking to go back-to-back for the first time since the man playing QB across from them did it 16 years ago. The Bucs becoming the first team to ever play a Super Bowl in their home stadium, led by a 43-year old QB in his first season with the team. Oh, and it’s his 10th appearance in this game. So yeah, nothing major.
The road has been fairly straightforward for the defending champs. The Chiefs steamrolled through the AFC this year, going 14-2 (with their starters resting in the second loss) and making formidable playoff teams look silly. Much of their roster from last year’s Super Bowl squad is still here, obviously headlined by QB Patrick Mahomes, who is already making a name for himself in the GOAT conversation in just his 3rd full year as a starter. This is already his 2nd Super Bowl after reaching 3 straight AFC Championship Games. The kid is just 25 and hasn’t even played a road playoff game yet. He is starting to cement an all-time legacy, and he hasn’t even scratched the surface of his career. Mahomes threw for 4,740 yards and 38 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions and finished 3rd in MVP voting. It helps when you have two of the best offensive weapons in the league in WR Tyreek Hill, the fastest man in pro football, and TE Travis Kelce, who is having perhaps the best season that a tight end has ever had with 105 catches, 1,416 yards (2nd amongst ALL receivers), and 11 TDs. Not to mention having HC Andy Reid, one of the greatest offensive minds of all time, dialing up the most creative plays you’ll ever see. They can hurt you in so many different ways offensively, but I personally think this defense doesn’t get enough credit. They excel in every level, led by Chris Jones and Frank Clark up front, who absolutely dominate guards on a weekly basis. Their secondary is even better than last year’s led once again by S Tyrann Matthieu, with other key pieces like CBs Bashaud Breeland and rookie L’Jarius Sneed making huge plays all over the second level. Even outside all of these huge names, the Chiefs are stacked with talent, and it’s the reason they were the best team in the league all season long.
It’s been a much more tumultuous road for the Buccaneers to get here. They were 7-5 heading into their bye week with all sorts of questions about their chemistry and whether or not they’d even make the playoffs, but they have not lost a game since then and are playing incredible football. In his first season with the team, QB Tom Brady has somehow shattered expectations, having one of his best seasons yet at age 43 with 4,633 yards and 40 touchdowns. This is his 10th appearance in the Super Bowl, and he’ll be looking for his 7th ring. I know, it doesn’t even sound real. Like his counterpart in this game, Brady is also surrounded by some of the NFL’s best talents. From star WRs in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin to a stellar 1-2 punch at RB in Ronald Jones and Leonard Fournette and one of the best offensive lines in football, Brady has gotten tons of help, and it has paid dividends in a huge way. But the reason this team has the chance to play for a Lombardi is their defense. It’s a unit that has stepped up and made a name for themselves in the playoffs. Their front seven is absolutely loaded, from veteran talents like DE Jason Pierre-Paul and DT Ndamukong Suh to some emerging young studs like DE Shaq Barrett, DT Vita Vea, and LB Devin White, who has been an absolute force. Tampa’s secondary is full of young playmakers like CB Sean Murphy-Bunting and S Antoine Winfield Jr. That vaunted defense smothered the elite offenses of New Orleans and Green Bay in impressive fashion en route to get to this point. When you win 3 straight road playoff games, you can always point to a strong defense as a leading factor in each win. Just look at the NFC Championship Game two weeks ago, where Brady threw 3 second half interceptions, but the defense only allowed 6 points off of them. It’s an elite unit that needs to play its best ball in their toughest challenge yet if they want to win it all.
Oh, and did I mention that these teams already played each other this year? Back on November 29th, the Chiefs held off a late rally to beat the Bucs 27-24 in Tampa. They got off to a huge lead thanks to 269 yards and 3 TDs from Tyreek Hill, with 203 yards and 2 TDs coming in the first quarter alone. That game was great, and I’m sure it has given both coaches plenty of material to work with as they try to come up with a gameplan for tonight. It’s the first rematch of a regular season game in a Super Bowl since 2011, when the Giants beat the Patriots after beating them in the regular season as well (as if we need another parallel involving Tom Brady). In any case, it’s always hard to beat a team twice, especially when the second game is the biggest of them all.
Both of these teams match up so well with each other that it’s almost scary. However, there can only be one winner. I’ve put a great deal of thought into this in the last 2 weeks, and I still had such a hard time making this pick. It’s easily the most even Super Bowl on paper that I’ve ever seen, and it can easily go either way. With that being said, here’s my pick for Super Bowl LV:
Chiefs 31-26 Buccaneers 
Sunday, 6:30 PM, CBS
At the end of the day, in a game like this and a situation like this, you just have to go with your gut. And my gut tells me the Chiefs will win this game. I could give you a plethora of reasons about matchups or schemes or play-calling or even superstition. But I won’t. Like I said earlier, this could easily go both ways. But everything in me is pointing towards Kansas City. It is so, so hard to pick against Tom Brady, but it’s equally as hard, if not harder, to pick against Patrick Mahomes. All he has done is win and win, but at the same time, the one man who has stopped him was Tom Brady. Not to mention that the Buccaneers don’t have to worry about travel or hotels or any of that jazz. For them, it’s another day of work down the road. It’s just such a difficult pick to make. For me, it all boils down to this: who do I trust when it matters the most? There is no doubt that Tom Brady is the most clutch player ever, but what about the people around him? Only 5 other players on his team have Super Bowl experience. The Chiefs have over 30. This is almost the exact same team that won it all last year. All of these guys have been here and done that. Experience matters so much in the Super Bowl, and the Chiefs have it in abundance. This is going to be air-tight throughout, but I see Mahomes and company pulling away late to secure their second consecutive title. You already know Tom Brady will not go down without a fight, but I just don’t think it will be enough. As I said above, the Bucs defense will be the key to winning this game. I just can’t see them stopping the unstoppable force that is the Kansas City Chiefs.
No matter what happens tonight, I know that this game is going to be spectacular. All the makings of a classic are right in front of us, and I really hope that’s what we get. Not to mention a performance by The Weeknd in the middle of everything? We really are spoiled. I cannot wait to watch it all unfold. I hope you all enjoy the game.
I want to end things by thanking you guys so much for your support throughout this season. No matter if you clicked on one article or every single one week in and week out, I can’t say enough how much I appreciate you. It has been such a blast writing about football in this incredible season, and it was also an honor. I’ll still be here, writing about other things, but I think it’s safe to say you won’t be getting me on a weekly basis for a while. I hope you stick around for the future, and I can’t wait to bring you guys more content.
All stats taken from ESPN.
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