Ten Things About Super Bowl LVII

[gblowfish]

Ten Things About Super Bowl LVII: KC 38, Eagles 35.

10. Super Sunday was one of the best days of my life. I don’t say that lightly. I woke up to a beautiful KC morning. Hung my Chiefs flag by the door and did all my other standard Chiefs morning rituals. It was a 50 degree day with wonderful February weather. Since we were having people over, I did all the BBQ prep and got the smoker all set up. Dry rub the ribs and chicken, deviled eggs, cole slaw, BBQ beans and all the other types of snack stuff you’d imagine. When it came time to get dressed -I’m extremely superstitious about this- I thought a long time about it. Normally when the Chiefs are on the road and I’m watching on TV, I wear NO Chiefs gear at all. None. I don’t want to jinx them. But the Super Bowl, well, that’s a cat of another stripe. So I chose my Len Dawson #16 jersey and the hat I wore last time we won against the Niners. All my years of Chiefs PTSD makes it hard for me to just relax and enjoy the moment. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve learned to just go with it and enjoy the ride. Only one team gets out of the season happy. All the other teams face elimination eventually. So if you make it to the final two teams, that’s a major accomplishment. My friend Gary and I are old enough to have vivid memories of losing to the Phillies in the 1980 World Series. So we felt like KC owed Philly some championship payback. Granted it’s 42 years later, but I am the king of grudge holding. They estimated the Glendale crowd was 60-40 Philly to KC fans. It must have been glorious to have been there, watch those cheesesteak sucking, garish green clad fans “Fly Eagles Fly” back to Philly with a big fat "L" in their pocket. No need to grease the streetlight poles this year, guys. Seriously though, the Eagles played a good, competitive game. If they don’t settle for a field goal in the third quarter, they may have won this game. They don't call Mahomes "The Grim Reaper" for nothing.

9. Before the game, the Fox pregame dipsticks all picked the Eagles to win. No surprise, Fox is the NFC Network and Philly is a much bigger TV market than KC. Michael Strahan picked Philly to win by ten. He was right for one half. After the game in the trophy ceremony, Travis Kelce called them out on it, which was fabulous. Kelce is a loveable character, and I think he represents the everyday KC Joe Sixpack fan better than any other player. He’s a down to earth guy, and I hope when his career is over he stays in KC and makes a home here. His TD catch put him second all time in NFL history in the playoffs, only behind Jerry Rice. This morning, the Philly media is crying about Cheffers and how Jalen Hurts should have been the MVP. Yes, Hurts tied Terrell Davis for rushing three TDs in a Super Bowl. Yes, he threw for more than 300 yards. Yes, he QB sneaked four times to pick up first downs. But he also fumbled into a scoop six, and most importantly, he LOST. So no, the MVP is Mahomes. He played on one leg, again. He engineered only the second victory ever in a Super Bowl when down by double digits at half. Only other time was Pats overcoming the Falcons in the biggest meltdown ever, 28-3 at the half. Mahomes has now engineered a double digit comeback in FOUR different post-season games in the last five years. No other QB in the Super Bowl era has ever done it more than twice. When he limped off the field at the two minute warning of the first half I thought “Well, down by ten, Chad Henne in the second half, defense hasn’t stopped anybody, doesn’t look good.” I know most of you were thinking the same thing. But the good news is, Super Bowl Halftime is 30 minutes long. That’s an eternity to Andy to make second half adjustments and for Mahomes to get treatment. He said he didn’t take the needle during the halftime, but who cares? He’s got until August to heal. Mahomes is the first QB to win the season MVP and Super Bowl MVP since Kurt Warner in 1999. Mahomes also led the NFL in passing yards and passing TDs. That’s the first time a QB has accomplished all that in one season. And the guy is just 27 years old.

8. Speaking of halftime and other basic Super Bowl Flotsam: What the HELL is “Cocaine Bear” and is that really a movie?? Really?? Why was Gracie Hunt wearing Reynolds Wrap? Rihanna is definitely out of my demographic. That whole halftime shindig looked like a May Day Parade in Red China, except her dancing polar bears were all simulating sex acts and showing their navels. Rihanna revealed that she has a bun in the oven. OK, that’s cool. But why does she dress up like Cindy Lou Who? I don’t get it, but I’m not supposed to. I’m 63 years old! At least Chris Stapleton did a straight version of the National Anthem, and didn’t “Scooby” it up. Whitney Houston started the “Scooby Up the Anthem” trend, and it’s never went away. Just sing the damn song, people. Eagles players were complaining about the Arizona playing surface. Yeah, we know. We lost Buttkicker for a month because of it. Reddick was saying he would have had a couple sacks had he not been slipping and sliding. Guess what? Both teams played on the same field. Neither Jones or Clark had a sack either. And Philly’s celebrated defensive line, who came into the game leading the NFL with 70 sacks, got bupkis against KC’s O-Line. Bruce Vilanch did a masterful job of re-building that line after the Tampa Bay Disaster, and if Mahomes would have had this line two years ago, he might have won that Super Bowl too. Big props to Veach for getting production out of every guy he drafted this year but one. Look at how many rookies played meaningful roles this season? Chenal, McDuffie, Karlaftis, Williams, Watson and Cook on defense, Moore on offense -who broke a critical punt return vs. the Bengals and had a TD in the Super Bowl to boot. Pacheco, a seventh round pick, led the team in rushing. Simply an unbelievable draft. And we’ll have extra picks this year too because of the Tyreek Hill trade. And the draft is at Union Station in Kansas City.

7. On the overall game stats, they were close in many categories. Eagles ran 19 more plays than KC because they kept Mahomes off the field most of the first half. Buttkicker doinked his first field goal attempt, which was scary at the time. Visions of Stenerud and Lowrey missing playoff kicks simmer. Visions of The Kicker Who Will Remain Nameless missing ALL of his playoff kicks bubble up. Buttkicker was given a chance at redemption the last two games, and came through both times. And if he doesn’t doink that kick, Chiefs go in at the half only down by a TD. Chiefs had a TD in each quarter, Eagles only had a three in the third quarter. And they gave up a defensive scoop six. That’s your game difference. The Cheffers factor didn’t rear its head until the final two minutes. Philly will bitch about that forever, although the player who got flagged (Bradberry) admitted he was holding after the game. He said he just wished the refs had let it go. He just picked a real bad time to hold. Overall, Eagles were penalized twice as much as the Chiefs. KC was 3/14 yards on penalties, Philly 6/33 yards.

6. As much as Philly might want to cry all off season about Carl Cheffers, the Chiefs have had their share of Cheffers disease over the years too. He called more penalties against the Chiefs in the first half of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl than had ever been called in a Super Bowl half EVER. He bounced us from the playoffs vs. Pittsburgh with the mystery holding call on Eric Fisher when James Harrison won best actor for World Cup Soccer Flop. We get it. But the refs didn’t do the Chiefs any particular favors up to that point. My big question is, what exactly IS a catch now? Bolton runs a fumble into the end zone for a score, after the receiver clearly catches the ball, takes a step, and then gets hit and the ball comes free. It would have been Bolton’s second TD in the game, but the TD is reversed on review. Later in that same drive: Eagles Goedert bobbles a ball, steps out of bounds before securing it, gets one foot in, but the other foot is out, and its ruled a catch. I have no clue what the rules are any more.

5. One of the things I dearly love about Andy Reid is, he’s not afraid to think outside of the box and let the players have some actual fun, even in a playoff game or Super Bowl. It doesn’t always work. But it makes the opposing defense have to worry about what the HELL is Andy going to do next, and WTF is this crazy formation? The Chiefs did a modified “Snow Globe” again, this time the play was designed to go to Andrew Wiley, the tackle eligible. He didn’t get free off the line, so Mahomes threw the ball away, which is fine. That made Philly wonder what else Reid was going to dial up? What they got was the “Corn Dog.” What’s the Corn Dog, you ask? With the Chiefs trailing the Eagles by six points early in the fourth quarter, Mahomes lined up in a unique formation on a third-and-three. Two wide receivers sat out wide, two tight ends were in the slot and McKinnon flanked Mahomes in the shotgun. The formation appeared to be designed for a run. But as Reid later explained to NBC Sports’ Peter King, Mahomes had the authority to check to a pass depending on how Philadelphia cornerback Darius Slay played the receiver lined up out wide to the right. Kadarius Toney ultimately was never accounted for, and he strutted into the end zone untouched. The play is called “The Corn Dog.” It was so tasty, they ran the EXACT SAME PLAY for their next TD to Skyy Moore, except it went to the other side of the formation. He walked in untouched too. This is why Andy Reid is a brilliant tactician and offensive mastermind.

4. The website “The Onion” has been en fuego today. Check these great stories following the game:
https://www.theonion.com/chiefs-seco...e-i-1850101391
https://www.theonion.com/report-this...l-b-1850091131
https://www.theonion.com/chiefs-medi...d-i-1850091134
https://www.theonion.com/donna-kelce...won-1850100890

3. This second Super Bowl win, and fourth appearance by Andy with KC and Philly, will cement his place in the Pro Football HOF. Mahomes and Kelce are locks too. And I’m sure as the years fly by, other Chiefs from this team may get consideration too. Don’t forget this string of numbers: 3, 16, 18, 28, 33, 36, 58, 63, 78. 86. One day 15 and 87 get added to that string. I may use these numbers on Powerball this week.

2. Other sidebars from the game: Mama Kelce got to see a lot of scoring. 73 points with no overtime is a lot. First time brothers have squared off and first time both starting QBs have been black. Carlos Dunlap got his first Super Bowl Ring, as did Toney. BTW: the play that really flipped the momentum was Toney’s punt return in the fourth quarter. He stepped up big for Hardman this year and was money when called upon. Ju Ju had a good game with a gimpy knee. Hope he re-signs here. OBJ has a career decision to make if he wants to stay a Chief or not. Henne announced his retirement. He served Andy Reid well, and will always be fondly remembered for his time here. Wonder who’ll be the number two guy next year? EB may be gone as a head coach somewhere else, and Spags has hinted he might retire. Andy isn’t going anywhere. Why would he? He’s coached for 25 years and now has the best team and best QB in the NFL, and is on the verge of a Patriots style dynasty. He loves coaching, so as long as he wants to do it, let him do his thing. He’s currently fifth on the all-time wins list with 247 victories. I thought Bradshaw was being a real douche at the trophy ceremony, asking Big Red if he was done. Let the man enjoy the moment and get outta here with that crap!

1. So with this win, Chiefs now have three Lombardi Trophies, tying the Faiders and the Donks. Oakland/LA/Vegas Parole violators last won in 1983 and Donks in 2015. We won’t talk about the Bolts, or Bills, or Bengals since their trophy cases are bereft of anything named “Lombardi.” Also I was thinking about this. Everybody knows KC has hosted the AFC Championship game five times in a row (historic), made it to the Super Bowl three of those times and won two of them. But think about this: In the last five seasons, the Chiefs have averaged playing 19 games a year. They’ve played almost another full regular season (some years were 16 games, last two years were 17 games) than most other NFL teams during that period. This year they played 20 games. Last year they played 20 games. Year before that 19 games. So Mahomes has taken some real wear and tear over his tenure. That certainly beats the alternative of NOT going to the playoffs. And he’s just getting started. He could easily play another 15 years. He’s got a long off season to rest and re-charge. Chiefs Kingdom are World’s Champions again. They won one for Lenny Dawson and Jim Lynch and Curly Culp and other Chiefs we’ve lost along the way. That AFL Chiefs team was great. This team is greater. And that’s saying something. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a parade on Wednesday. See you at the Draft in April!

[Prison Bitch]

First !

[New World Order]

Ooooooooo

Ten things! Yes!

[Pitt Gorilla]

Yay!

[C-Mac]

Thirds

[Rasputin]

Super Bowl Champions

[DenverChief]

Great Writeup!

[crayzkirk]

Very nice George, I'm a year older and am still fighting the PTSD from all of the losses. After the kicker who shall remain nameless, the vaseline game, unbelievable Luck, forward progress, fake ruffing the passer, lining up offsides, etc. It's time for someone else to make excuses and blame the refs. It's time to let it go so it has no power of us; that's all in the past.

[notorious]

YES!!!!!

[TIED5573]

George, you are a treasure! I so enjoy reading your posts and missed the 10 things this year. That said, thank you for this one and enjoy the parade!

And Go Chiefs!

[Jenson71]

Okay, gotta ask -- what's the origin of Scooby it up?

[Easy 6]

That Onion headline

Donna Kelce Just Glad Her Better Son Won

[Rasputin]

Suck it Donks and Raiders you no longer have more Super Bowl wins than we do. Fact we are going surpass the number and get us a few more in our Dynasty Era.

[oldman]

Great read, George, glad you're back!!

About your point 9. I used to like Sean Payton, but his recent actions have made him dead to me. Enjoy your annual 0-2 record against the Chiefs. The dofus next to him has had too many concussions to think clearly. As to the rest of the crew that picked the Iggles, shame on you, we have PMII, Andy, and Mama Kelce's favorite son. A special **** you to Howie, that Raider scum. Even though you tried to kiss and make up with Andy AFTER the final tick of the clock, your boy never played a down for the Chiefs, so quit being a kissass.

[alpha_omega]

"Scooby it up"? Translate please.