This year’s Super Bowl brought us an exhilarating showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. Both teams played adamantly for the win. In addition, the Chiefs fought to maintain their Super Bowl-winning title two years in a row while the 49ers grappled to prove themselves to be the new team to beat.
The first half of the game was extremely low-scoring, with both defenses successfully keeping the offenses from making any ground. On their first possession, the 49ers lost the ball to a fumble by running back Christian McCaffrey. The ball was recovered by Chiefs defensive end George Karlaftis at the Chiefs’ 27-yard line. However, the 49ers defense was able to hold off the Chiefs offense throughout the rest of the first quarter.
In the last minute of the quarter, the 49ers managed to score a 37-yard field goal, becoming the first team to put a score on the board.
Disaster struck for the Chiefs at the beginning of the second quarter. All the way at the 49ers’ 8-yard line, running back Isiah Pacheco fumbled the ball. It was recovered by the 49ers, in effect ruining a chance for the Chiefs to put a score on the board.
The 49ers finally got the first touchdown of the game near the end of the second quarter. Quarterback Brock Purdy passed the ball to wide receiver Jauan Jennings who then threw a lateral to running back Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey was able to easily run into the endzone for a touchdown.
However, the Chiefs were able to score a field goal during their next possession, finally putting themselves on the board as well.
After sending a wayward pass to running back Isiah Pacheo that was fumbled and luckily recovered, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw an unfortunate interception. 49ers Ji’Ayir Brown was able to get the pick off of Mahomes’ deep throw.
Despite the achievement of the 49ers defense, the 49ers offense was unable to score after getting their pick. It was clear that the Chiefs defense was playing just as well as the defense they were opposing.
After making their way down the field, the Chiefs were able to score another field goal, tightening the gap between their score and the 49ers’ score.
Later in the quarter, the Chiefs were able to recover their own punt after it was fumbled by 49ers Darrell Luter. This recovery proved to be significant as the Chiefs scored a touchdown. Mahomes was able to throw a touchdown pass to a wide open Marques Valdes-Scantling.
The 49ers immediately stopped the Chiefs’ momentum by scoring a touchdown of their own. Purdy passed to Jennings who broke through multiple tackle attempts to score the touchdown. Unfortunately for the 49ers, the extra point was blocked. However, they were now up 16-13.
The fourth quarter consisted of only field goals. First, the Chiefs scored a 24-yard field goal. In response, the 49ers scored a 53-yard field goal, making the score 19-16.
With less than two minutes left in the game, the Chiefs made their way down the field. At 0:03, they scored a final field goal, tying the score and sending the game into overtime.
The 49ers won the coin flip at the start of overtime and could therefore choose to start on either offense or defense. They chose to start on offense under the assumption that if they scored a touchdown, the game would be over and they would win. However, these were not the overtime rules for the Super Bowl. In actuality, the team playing defensively first would get to play on offense no matter what the other team scored. Therefore, it would be more advantageous to play on defense first in order to collect information. This misunderstanding may have had an effect on the 49ers’ performance during overtime.
The 49ers only managed to score a field goal during overtime, a score that would allow the Chiefs to bring out their offense no matter what rules were being used.
The Chiefs managed to secure their second Super Bowl title in two years with their touchdown in overtime. Mahomes threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Mecole Hardman who finished the game in the endzone. The game concluded with a score of 25-22, Chiefs.
The Chiefs’ win over the 49ers secured them as a dynasty and secured quarterback Patrick Mahomes as one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. It will be interesting to see if the Chiefs will be able to hold onto their crown next year.
