Super Bowl LV: Buccaneers Vs. Chiefs 2/7/2021

The Chiefs went into the Super Bowl coming off of a nice 14 point win against the Bills and after winning 12 of their last 13 games. The Bucs on the contrary were riding a 7 game win streak and a close 5 point win. These 2 teams played earlier in the season and the Chiefs won by 3 points. The spread was Bucs -105 and the Chiefs -115. Before the game I predicted that Chiefs would win 27-23. The Bucs were playing at home which was the first time a team had ever played at home in the Super Bowl. This was also Tom Brady’s 10th Super Bowl. Antonio Brown and Cameron Brate were both questionable for the Bucs going into the Super Bowl. The Chiefs had 8 players questionable and 2 players out entering the game. The keys to the game for the Bucs were to play good defense, make sure that the Chiefs didn’t get out to an early lead, and run the ball well. The Chiefs on the other hand needed to pressure Tom Brady, run the ball well, and take an early lead. Did the Chiefs win their second straight Lombardi trophy or did Tom Brady win his 7th Super Bowl and his first with the Bucs? To the game!

The Chiefs won the coin toss and opted to defer meaning that Tampa Bay would get the ball first. The Bucs received the ball at the 3 yard line and they ended at their own 23. After a Bucs 3 and out the Bucs downed the punt at the Chiefs 33 yard line. At 11:29 the Chiefs punted for a touchback after a failed drive. At 9:22 on a 3rd and 8 the Chiefs defensive line sacked Brady for a 6 yard loss which led to a punt that put the Chiefs on their own 38 yard line. At 5:14 Harrison Butker made a 49 yard field goal after a nice drive. This was for the first points of the game and to give the Chiefs a 3 point lead. At 1:54 Leonard Fournette ran for 11 yards for a first down and put the Bucs in the Red Zone. With 41 seconds left in the quarter Tom Brady threw a short pass to Rob Gronkowski who then ran the ball into the end zone and made the score 7-3 after the extra point. This was Tom Brady’s first career touchdown in the first quarter of a Super Bowl. At the end of the first quarter the score was 7-3 after the Chiefs had only 9 passing yards and 39 rushing yards. The Bucs had 39 rush yards and 50 passing yards. Both teams defenses played very well in the first quarter and hoped to do the same in the second quarter.

The Chiefs started the 2nd quarter with a 3rd down incompletion and a punt which put the Bucs on their own 30 yard line. At 13:06 Brady threw a 31 yard pass to Mike Evans to put the Bucs at the Chiefs 6 yard line. At 10:56 the Bucs went for it on 4th down on the Chiefs 1 yard line and got stopped by the Chiefs defense. The Bucs tried to challenge the call and failed which led to them losing their 2nd timeout. At 10:50 Mahomes threw a 14 yard pass to Tyreek Hill to get them off of the 1 yard line. At 9:09 the Chiefs kicked a 29 yard punt to put the Bucs on the Chiefs 38 yard line after failing on a 3rd and 8. At 7:55 Tom Brady threw an interception but it didn’t count because the Chiefs got called for holding. After a quick Bucs drive made a 40 yard field goal but it didn’t count because Antonio Hamilton was called for offsides which resulted in a Bucs first down. The next play at 6:11 Brady threw another touchdown pass to Gronk which made the score 14-3 after the extra point. At 6:05 Mahomes made a 13 yard pass to Travis Kelce to put the Chiefs in the red zone. At 1:04 Butker made a 34 yard field goal to make the score 14-6. With 24 seconds left in the half Bashaud Breeland got called for a 34 yard penalty to put them on the Chiefs 24 yard line. With 10 seconds to go in the half Tom Brady threw a low touchdown pass to Antonio Brown which gave the Bucs a 21-6 lead after the extra point. The Bucs played well in the 1st half with 140 passing yards and 60 rush yards. The Chiefs didn’t play as well with only 67 pass yards and 57 rush yards. The referees called a ton of fouls in the first half. The Bucs played well in the first half and looked to carry that momentum to a win. The Chiefs didn’t play as well and hoped to gain some momentum in the 3rd quarter. To the third!

The Chiefs received the kickoff and ended up on the 19 yard line. At 14:54 Clyde Edwards-Helaire ran for 26 yards putting the Chiefs on their own 45 yard line. At 11:31 Butker made a 52 yard field goal to make the score 21-9. At 8:28 Gronk got a 25 yard pass to put the Bucs on the Chiefs 27 yard line. The next play Leonard Fournette ran for a touchdown to give the Bucs a 28-9 lead after the extra point. At 7:10 Mahomes got sacked to make it a 3rd and 14. At 6:30 Antoine Winfield intercepted Patrick Mahomes’ and put the Bucs at the Chiefs 45 yard line. On a Bucs 3rd and 10 Brady missed a snap making it a 4th and 24. On 4th and 24 Ryan Succop made a 52 yard field goal to make it a 22 point game. The Bucs were still beating the Chiefs in total yards after the 3rd quarter. The Bucs were able to keep building their lead in the 3rd quarter and hoped to play good defense and secure the win in the 4th quarter. The Chiefs hoped to break through the Bucs tough defense and get the win.

To start the 4th quarter Mahomes threw a 17 yard pass to Kelce to put the Chiefs in the red zone. At 13:43 Mahomes threw an incomplete pass on 4th down to give the Bucs the ball at their own 12 yard line. At 8:12 on a 4th and 1 the Bucs punted and the Chiefs called a fair catch at the 8 yard line. At 5:03 Mahomes got sacked and fumbled the ball but the Chiefs recovered it. After a Bucs 3 and out at 3:41 the Chiefs received a punt at their own 42 yard line. At 1:40 Patrick Mahomes threw an interception to Devin White. The Bucs ended up winning Super Bowl LV 31-9.

Leo’s Extra Point: The Bucs played an amazing game defensively with 2 sacks and 2 interceptions. They also played well offensively with 145 rushing yards and 201 passing yards. The Chiefs didn’t play well with 1 sack, 107 rush yards, and 270 passing yards. Each quarterback also had 1 fumble. The Chiefs had a lot of penalties with 11 compared to the Bucs with 4. The Chiefs never scored a touchdown in the entire game nor did they score more than 10 points. The Bucs took over in the 2nd quarter winning it by 11 points. Neither team scored in the 4th quarter which led to a very anticlimactic ending. Only 13 of the 40 points scored in Super Bowl LV were in the 2nd half. Tom Brady won his 7th Super Bowl and his 5th Super Bowl MVP. This was the Bucs 2nd Super Bowl win as a franchise. This was also the first time a team won the Super Bowl at home. Overall, this was a Super Bowl that didn’t live up to its hype of a very competitive new versus old matchup.