Barry M. Bloom
·4 min read
The Kansas City Chiefs are headed to Las Vegas for Super Bowl LVIII this year, with a chance to become the first team to win back-to-back NFL titles since the New England Patriots won Super Bowls in 2004 and ’05.
On Feb. 11, they’ll face the San Francisco 49ers in a rematch of the 2020 championship in Miami, in which the Chiefs overcame a 10-point deficit to win 31-20, their first Super Bowl victory in 50 years.
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This is Kansas City’s fourth Super Bowl appearance in the past five years after beating the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. The Ravens were a 3.5-point favorite over the Chiefs.
For the Niners, the seven-point favorites who dug out of a 17-point halftime hole in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., to defeat the Detroit Lions, 34-31, there’s a sense of unfinished business. This time, the Niners are two-point underdogs.
“There’s been unfinished business for a while,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game. “Our team was set up for this for a long time. It’s been a long year to get to this point. It was hard at the beginning of the game, but we got it done today.”
The Chiefs—led by coach Andy Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce—are as close to an NFL dynasty as there is in this era. The team has won three Super Bowls now; along with the 2020 Super Bowl in Miami, Kansas City won Super Bowl IV in 1970 against the Minnesota Vikings and last year’s 38-35 thriller over the Philadelphia Eagles.
To get back to the Super Bowl, Kansas City won on the road at Buffalo and Baltimore. Last week in an AFC Divisional Game win at Buffalo, Mahomes and Kelce connected on a pair of TD passes; they now have 17 overall, breaking a playoff record set by Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. This week, Kelce passed Jerry Rice for the most pass receptions in NFL playoff history, 156 in 21 games.
Kelce caught 11 passes from Mahomes Sunday for 116 yards and a touchdown—and no drops.
“A shoutout to Jerry Rice, but the Chiefs are still the Chiefs,” Kelce said. “You’ve got to fight for the right to party. Believe it, baby. We’re going to Las Vegas.”
After a promising regular season and a commanding win against the Texans in the divisional round, the top-seeded Ravens, led by likely NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, fell with a thud. Baltimore struggled on offense Sunday afternoon against the defending Super Bowl champs; the team who averaged more than 32 points a game since their Week 13 bye week tied a season-low with only 10 points scored. The three turnovers didn’t help.
On the NFC side, Detroit was the Cinderella team in this season’s NFL playoffs, having never reached the Super Bowl. The Lions defeated the Los Angeles Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to earn their place in the NFC championship against the 49ers. Before this postseason they hadn’t won a playoff game since 1992, losing their last championship tilt that season, 41-10, to the Washington Redskins at old RFK Stadium.
This is the closest the Lions have come to a Super Bowl berth since then. They last won an NFL championship in 1957, a decade before the merger of the NFL and AFL created what became the Super Bowl to determine the league winner after every season.
The Niners haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1995, although they’ve been to the championship twice since then—in 2013, when they lost to the Ravens by three points, and in 2020, when they lost to the Chiefs by 11. This will be their eighth time in the Super Bowl, with the first five all victories coming behind legends Joe Montana and Steve Young at quarterback.
This edition of the Niners is led by second-year QB Brock Purdy, who at 24 will be the third-youngest and lowest-drafted player to lead a team into the Super Bowl when he takes the field at Allegiant Stadium. On Sunday, Purdy converted on 20 of 31 passes for 267 yards and a touchdown.
Last week, Purdy led the Niners to score on their final drive of the NFC Divisional Game to defeat Green Bay, 24-21, at home.
“This is a team sport,” Purdy said. “We knew we had a half left [Sunday]. The defense took care of business. They boys on offense did their jobs.”
The Niners appeared all but finished Sunday as Detroit ran out to a 24-7 halftime lead. But the Niners answered with 27 consecutive points and held on at the end to ice the win. Purdy said that 49er faithful fans were a big asset. So did 49ers chief executive Jed York.
“We wouldn’t have won this game without you,” York said addressing the crowd after the win. “You guys stayed with us the entire time. You put pressure on Detroit. And you helped us get this victory.”
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