The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL to win their second Super Bowl, first since 1969, to end the NFL’s 100th season.
The Gameplan that #TheNU supplied to the people said the Chiefs would win this Super Bowl 30-17. That’s close!!! I also said that Kansas City QB Patrick Mahomes II would win Super Bowl MVP. That happened!!!
I got the results right, ultimately. And maybe two people read my scroll, so I’m going to collect my wins. With that said! The process of how this game got to Chiefs 31, 49ers 20 was quite the ride.
I said that San Francisco QB Jimmy Garoppolo would have more turnovers than touchdowns. That verdict was realized. When Garoppolo was good, he was really good. In San Francisco’s first half TD drive, Garoppolo completed all three of his passes; the first two to WR Deebo Samuel for 27 yards, and then Garoppolo’s lone TD of the game to FB Kyle Juszczyk from 15 yards out to tie the game at 10-10. On San Francisco’s second half TD drive, Garoppolo completed 3-of-4 passes for 52 yards to set up RB Raheem Mostert’s goal line score to give the 49ers a 20-10 lead. The completions on that drive went to Samuel, WR Kendrick Bourne, and Juszczyk again. So on San Francisco’s two TD drives, Garoppolo was not sacked while completing 6-of-7 passes for 94 yards and a TD – a perfect 158.3 passer rating.
On San Francisco’s other eight drives? Garoppolo was 14-of-24 for 125 yards and two INTs – a passer rating of 37.7. If every throw a passer attempts falls to the ground incomplete, then the passer rating is 39.6, so Garoppolo’s performance for most of the game was actively terrible. Both of Garoppolo’s INTs were targeting Samuel. Who knows how this game would have changed if TE George Kittle wasn’t called for what was only the second offensive pass interference of his career, a play that negated a 42-yard reception that would have put the 49ers on the KC 13 with six seconds left in the first half and the 49ers having two timeouts. But Garoppolo also missed WR Emmanuel Sanders deep middle on third down with 1:40 left in the game and the 49ers trailing 24-20. Garoppolo took his only sack of the game on the next play as Kansas City DE Frank Clark forced a turnover on downs.
As expected, the 49ers dominated on the ground, gaining 141 rushing yards and averaging 6.4 yards an attempt. The Chiefs had a whale of a time stopping the run for the most part. But the Chiefs got six QB hits, led by Clark’s two. And Kansas City DT Chris Jones batted three passes while helping to create the first of Garoppolo’s interceptions, pressuring the San Francisco QB into a hit by DT Mike Pennel, which allowed Kansas City CB Bashaud Breeland to field the lollipop.
Garoppolo’s final throw was intercepted by Kansas City CB Kendall Fuller with 1:08 left to play, ensuring that the 49ers would not score in the fourth quarter for only the third time this season.
I expected Patrick Mahomes to be able to overcome San Francisco’s pass rush in the Super Bowl. He did, but the depths of his performance were quite low. Mahomes was sacked four times and intercepted twice. The only other time that Mahomes’ had multiple sacks and multiple INTs in the same game, regular season or postseason, was in the 54-51 2018 Monday Night Football loss on the road against the Los Angeles Rams. By time Mahomes threw his second INT of the game to backup San Francisco FS Tarvarius Moore with 11:57 left in the game, Mahomes had already been sacked three times, and the 49ers had the ball with a 20-10 lead.
Legacies started getting re-written when Mahomes and the Chiefs got the ball back via San Francisco punt with 8:53 left to play. Just like the 2018 regular season meeting, the 49ers had the Chiefs in a 3rd and long situation, only for the Chiefs to overcome it. Mahomes hit WR Tyreek Hill deep left for 44 yards on 3rd and 15, absorbing a hit from San Francisco DT DeForest Buckner in the process. Hill had been the target on Mahomes’ INT to Moore and the INT to ILB Fred Warner on the previous possession, but he came through for the biggest play of Super Bowl LIV. On the next 3rd and long, Mahomes targeted TE Travis Kelce, who was blanketed by Moore at the goal line. Moore was called for a 20-yard pass interference, and Mahomes found Kelce on the next play to cut San Francisco’s lead to 20-17.
The Chiefs got the ball back for a game-winning drive after a 3-and-out punt by the 49ers with 5:10 left in the game. Mahomes completed all five of his passes on this drive, highlighted by a 38-yard deep shot to WR Sammy Watkins, who beat San Francisco CB Richard Sherman. Houston Texans WR DeAndre Hopkins was sure that his Clemson teammate would come through at some point…
I think Sammy will be the game changer tonight. https://t.co/N58XMAFcpT
— Deandre Hopkins (@DeAndreHopkins) February 3, 2020
Watkins set the Chiefs up with a goal-to-go. Mahomes scrambled for six yards, lost a yard on a sack, then hit RB Damien Williams in the flat for the game-winning score – a TD that had to be reviewed for several moments.
I mentioned that Damien Williams would have his best game of the playoffs in the Gameplan. Williams would seal the game with the 49ers holding all three timeouts with 1:25 left. After a first down run that gained four yards up the middle, Williams went around left end and virtually went untouched for a 38-yard TD.
Williams led all players in Super Bowl LIV with 133 total yards and 2 total TDs; his 104 rushing yards were 12 more than he had in the previous two playoff games combined. Mahomes completed 8-of-12 passes for 114 yards and 2 TDs on Kansas City’s two TD drives while trailing. That’s a 136.8 passer rating, after a 49.8 passer rating for the first 50 minutes of the game. Mahomes did add a rushing TD for the first TD of the game, and that came after Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy had the Chiefs ready to convert on 4th and 1 at the SF 5, throwing it alllll the way back:
Special teams was never a big factor in this game. San Francisco K Robbie Gould and Kansas City K Harrison Butker made all nine of their kicks. San Francisco WR Richie James Jr. fell on a punt he muffed to avoid disaster. Overall, the Chiefs averaged better field position.
It’s a shame that San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan’s lead management will always be a primary part of his narrative until proven otherwise. He was the playcaller for the Atlanta Falcons when the Patriots overcame a 28-3 second half deficit to win Super Bowl LI. And Sherman was with the Seattle Seahawks when the Patriots overcame a 24-14 fourth quarter deficit to win Super Bowl XLIX.
Kansas City head coach Andy Reid’s infamous clock management was never a factor – he didn’t even need to use a timeout on any of the fourth quarter scoring drives! And his team tied the Super Bowl record for fourth quarter scoring differential. But in Super Bowl XXVII, the Cowboys already had a double-digit lead when they outscored the Bills 21-0 in the fourth quarter, with one of those Cowboys scores coming on defense. The Chiefs trailed 20-10 entering the fourth quarter, and outscoring the 49ers 21-0 was necessary to win the game. After losing Super Bowl XXXIX to the Patriots as Philadelphia Eagles coach 15 years ago, and then seeing former Chiefs offensive coordinator Doug Pederson lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl LII win over the Patriots two years ago, it was good to see Reid clinch his Hall of Fame spot.
Time's yours, Andy. pic.twitter.com/aEiv5qiZNp
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) February 3, 2020
We won’t see these teams face each other in the regular season until 2022. By then, who knows what the 49ers will look like. We all know Patrick Mahomes is about to get the bag, though.
Thanks for sticking with #TheNU this season – all two of you. Stay tuned for more football things once spring begins!