February 11th marked the end of the season for the National Football League (NFL), as the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers.
The highly anticipated Super Bowl 58 featured a clash of two fierce rivals loaded with star power. Pop culture headlines, like Travis Kelce’s high-profile romance with Taylor Swift, drew in new audiences seeking entertainment beyond the game itself. Ultimately, a down-to-the-wire finish between two powerhouses delivered record viewership, as Super Bowl 58 became the most watched television programme in U.S. history with an average audience of 123.7 million across all platforms.
Super Bowl 58 made NFL history by being the second Super Bowl to require overtime to determine a winner. It was also the first Super Bowl ever to have no scoring in the opening quarter. Records tumbled as 49ers kicker Jake Moody nailed a 55-yard field goal, only to be topped by Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s 57-yard booming kick.
However, this hard-fought contest was not without costly mistakes. There were three total fumbles, including a critical one by 49ers star Christian McCaffrey on Kansas City’s 27-yard line during San Francisco’s first drive. The mistakes disrupted the 49ers’ flow early on – a dangerous scenario against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. The Niners went up 10-0 in the second quarter but saw their lead evaporate by the third as Mahomes engineered yet another comeback from a 10-point deficit.
As the game went into overtime, the 49ers elected to receive the ball first, which led to them driving down the field before stalling at the Chiefs’ 9-yard line and kicking a field goal. With only 10 seconds left in the first overtime period, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw the ball to an open Mecole Hardman in the endzone, establishing them as back-to-back Super Bowl champions, something that hasn’t been done since Tom Brady and the New England Patriots twenty years ago.
Within the following days after the Super Bowl, as videos went viral of Travis Kelce, Jason Kelce, and Taylor Swift partying in Las Vegas at after parties, heavy criticism also fell on San Francisco’s head coach, Kyle Shanahan.
One of the top critiques remains Shanahan’s decision to receive the ball first in overtime. Typically, Coach Shanahan chooses to defer getting the ball in order to have his offence take the field last. However, he altered that strategy in the face of the new overtime rules.
For context, in previous years, the overtime protocol was where a touchdown won the game, even if the other team hadn’t had possession. Now, these rules only apply in the regular season. For the playoffs and the Super Bowl, both offences get a chance to have the ball and if the game is still tied after both teams have possession, it then goes into sudden death, unless the first drive of the game is a safety, which ends the contest.
The 49ers have been heavily criticised, as it appeared that many of the players were not aware of the overtime rules. Many have criticised head coach Shanahan’s decision, but he says he wanted to ensure the Niners would have the ball if things were tied up after each team. However, some of his players thought the reasoning for taking the ball was because a touchdown wins the game, as it does in the regular season. They were surprised to find out that was not the case.
“You know what? I didn’t even realise the playoff rules were different in overtime,” 49ers player Kyle Juszczyk said. “I assumed you just wanted the ball to score a touchdown and win. I guess that’s not the case. I don’t totally know the strategy there … We hadn’t talked about it, no.”
On the other side of the sideline, the Chiefs players seemed to be well versed in the overtime rules, as described by defensive lineman Chris Jones, “We talked through this for two weeks, Jones said. “We were going to give the ball to the opponent; if they scored, we were going for two at the end of the game. We rehearsed it.”
Whether or not Shanahan’s decision in the coin toss cost the 49ers their Super Bowl, we are seeing the establishment of a new dynasty in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs, which is exhilarating for the Red Kingdom but terrifying for the rest of the NFL fans.
“Chicago Draft Town Lombardi Trophy” by Mobilus In Mobili is licensed under CC BY 2.0.