The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 31-9 in Super Bowl LV Sunday. The game took place in Tampa Bay, Florida — the first time in NFL history a team has had a home-field advantage in the Super Bowl and won.
The win gives the Buccaneers their second championship in franchise history, while their star quarterback, Tom Brady, secured his seventh Super Bowl ring.
“All year we believed in ourselves,” Brady said in a press conference Sunday. “Our coaches believed in us, we believed in ourselves … and just happy we got the job done.”
Brady and the Bucs were in control for much of the game and went into halftime with an impressive 21-6 lead against Kansas City — a team who scored a massive 38 points in its previous game against the Buffalo Bills.
Unfortunately for the Chiefs, the halftime performance by The Weeknd did not wake the offense up. With two interceptions from their star quarterback Patrick Mahomes and a dropped touchdown from running back Darrel Williams, the Chiefs only managed to score three points in the second half while the Bucs tacked on another 10 to their total.
Mahomes, the reigning Super Bowl MVP, had been nursing a turf toe injury since his match against the Cleveland Browns Jan. 17, and it was clear the injury had an affect on his mobility on the field.
“Definitely every single day that I keep it rested, it makes it even better,” Mahomes said during Super Bowl media week. “But it’s pretty close to 100%, and I’m pretty sure that by game day it will be.”
While the injured toe certainly affected Mahomes’ play, the injury that had a larger overall impact on the Chiefs was the loss of their talented left tackle Eric Fisher, who tore his achilles in the AFC Championship game against the Buffalo Bills. Without Fisher, Mahomes was constantly getting run down by Buccaneers players, most notably Ndamukong Suh and Shaquil Barrett.
The two stars of Tampa Bay’s defensive line finished with two and a half sacks combined, and Cam Gill chipped in with half a sack as well. The constant pressure and tight coverage from the Buccaneers resulted in plenty of awkward throws and uncomfortable situations for Mahomes.
Mahomes would finish the game with 270 passing yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions on 26/49 passing. Sunday night was the first game since Sept. 29, 2019 when Mahomes finished without a touchdown pass.
“We just didn’t execute, especially on third down and in the red zone,” Mahomes said in a press conference Sunday. “They were just better than us today, I don’t know what else to say… The worst I think I’ve been beaten in a long time.”
On the other side, Tom Brady, who spent his previous 20 seasons as a New England Patriot, won his seventh Super Bowl and fifth Super Bowl MVP — both NFL records. The next highest player is linebacker Charles Haley with five Super Bowl wins, and the next highest quarterback is Joe Montana with four.
Brady finished the game with 201 passing yards, three touchdowns on 21/29 passing. He connected with old friend and former Patriot Rob Gronkowski for a touchdown early in the game and would throw another to Gronkowski in the second quarter.
Gronkowski would finish the game with six receptions for 67 yards along with the two aforementioned touchdowns. Antonio Brown would also chip in a touchdown with just six seconds left in the first half.
“Big-time players making big-time plays,” Brady said. “Just love what they did, what they added to the team … It takes a lot of people for us to get to this point.”
Aside from the passing game, the 1-2 combo of Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones II gave the Chiefs defense fits all night — they finished with 16 carries for 89 yards and 12 carries for 61 yards respectively. Fournette would tack on a touchdown as well in the third quarter, which brought the score to 28-9.
“[Fournette] was amazing,” Brady said. “He just did it all … He showed up big.”
Moving forward, Patrick Mahomes, who is only 25 years old, still has several years of football ahead of him. Star wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who finished with seven receptions for 73 yards, has already voiced his eagerness to get back on the field.
“It definitely hurts because you want to win,” Hill said in a press conference Sunday. “But at the end of the day, I feel like we’re going to bounce back, we’re going to come back and we’re going to do our thing next year.”
For Brady on the other hand, at 43 years old, many NFL fans may think his career is coming to close. However, with not even an indication of the retirement being mentioned from Brady, it seems unlikely he is finished with building his case for being the greatest football player of all time.
“We’re coming back,” Brady said post-game, “you already know that.”
Fantastic article Ethan! It sounds like u have a great sports sense and a knack for writing. I’m excited to read more or your articles. Keep up the good work Ethan!!!