Super Bowl LV: An Anticlimactic End to a COVID-19 Season Between An Aging GOAT And a Rising GOAT

On February 7, 2021, the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs faced off against the upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who just last year went from being 7-9 and one of the biggest laughing stocks of the NFL, with former Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston throwing a record 30 interceptions, to 11-5 and playoff juggernauts with the acquisition of 6-time Super Bowl Champion quarterback Tom Brady, who guided them to their first Super Bowl appearance in 18 years since they won it all in Super Bowl XXXVII, with Jon Gruden as their head coach.

Super Bowl LV also marked the first time in NFL history where a team would play in the Super Bowl in their home field, that being Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Kansas City Chiefs road to the Super Bowl went through their house in Arrowhead Stadium, with the sole possession of the number 1 seed.

With the playoff bracket being tweaked this past offseason to allow a 7th seed to sneak into the playoffs, this meant that only the number 1 seed in each conference would get the bye week. Meanwhile, the number 2 seed would have to play in the Wild Card to accommodate for the new 7th seed to qualify, thus featuring three Wild Card Games to be played in the first week of the NFL postseason, with the second highest seed remaining clinching home-field for the Divisional round.

With the Cleveland Browns returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2002 and earning their first playoff victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers since 1994, they flew over to Arrowhead to face off against the defending champs.

Although they came up short that game, the Browns did not make it easy on them, as they scored 14 unanswered points in the second half, to the point where their defense was forced to sit out Patrick Mahomes over a concussion and make them start their back-up quarterback Chad Henne, a name most Dolphins fans are familiar with, being their starter in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

It took a gutsy 4th down late in the 4th quarter, with Henne under center, to finally put the dagger on the Browns playoff hopes to make it to the AFC Championship Game for the first time since 1989.

The following week, against the red-hot Buffalo Bills, who clinched their first division title since 1995, and advanced to their first AFC Championship Game since 1993, which coincidentially, was against Kansas City.

The Chiefs started out with a 9-0 deficit early on in the game. However, just like in their previous playoff run from the year before, the deficit did not last, as following the first quarter of that game, they outscored the Bills 38-15 en route to their second straight Super Bowl appearance, as they put the ax on Josh Allen’s breakout season and on the Bills Mafia, whose fanbase had been tormented by the New England Patriots for nearly two decades, finally experience relevant success once again after many seasons of pain and dread, as Stefon Diggs looked by watching the Chiefs celebrate their second straight AFC Championship title.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers path to the Super Bowl was a rather different one, as they had to go through the postseason as a Wild Card, that being the 5th seed.

For Tom Brady, who experienced countless playoff games in his time with New England, this would prove to be his ultimate test, as he had never been on a Wild Card playoff team of any sort that never clinched a division title.

Their run through the playoffs started at FedEx Field against the Washington Football Team, who had finally gone through an official name change this past offseason after all the controversy they had under the Redskins name.

They clinched their first division title in five years under an abysmally weak NFC East division, as neither team would be guaranteed to finish with a record above .500 by week 17, with both the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants finishing 6-10, and the Philadelphia Eagles finishing a pitiful 4-11-1.

This left the Washington Football Team finishing with a 7-9 record after defeating the Eagles week 17 Sunday night, clinching the NFC East for the first time since 2015.

With Comeback Player of the Year Alex Smith, who suffered a gruesome leg injury two years prior sitting out for the Wild Card, the Buccaneers played against Washington with Taylor Heinicke at quarterback.

Although the Football Team attempted a late comeback in the game, the Buccaneers were able to hang on with the win, as they won their first playoff game since winning Super Bowl XXXVII.

The Buccaneers then traveled to the Superdome to take on their NFC South rival New Orleans Saints, who had swept them earlier in the regular season and had won the NFC South Division.

Led by quarterback Drew Brees, who announced that he would be retiring after the season following 20 years of playing professional football, the Saints kept it a close game in the first half as they were tied 13-13.

It didn’t last, however, as the Buccaneers would outscore them 17-7 by the second half, with the Saints committing too many mistakes on offense, with Brees throwing 3 interceptions in the process.

They then traveled to Lambeau Field, infamously known around NFL lore as the “Frozen Tundra,” to take on the Green Bay Packers, with quarterback Aaron Rodgers playing some of the best football of his career and playing in his first NFC Championship Game at home for the first time.

Although it looked as if Green Bay would take revenge for what the Bucs did to them earlier in the regular season, a 21-10 deficit in the first half and questionable coaching by Packers coach Matt Lefleur in the 4th quarter doomed their chances of making their first Super Bowl appearance in 10 years.

With the return of Patrick Mahomes, the MVP of Super Bowl LIV and the six-time Super Bowl champ playing in a different uniform for the first time in his career, many analysts thought that this year’s Super Bowl would be a game to remember, as the quarterback of today, who has proven countless times how he can prove people wrong on the field, and how they thought he was washed up, faced off against the quarterback of tomorrow, who looked to be the one who would set off the next generation of quarterback play in the NFL.

What resulted, however, was a blowout of epic proportions, as Kansas City could not continue the magic they once had the year before when being down on certain deficits, or two weeks prior. The Buccaneers dismantled them in every way possible following a 3-0 lead from the Chiefs.

The Chiefs struggled offensively, as they could get anything going all game, scoring only three field goals for a total of 9 points. They also failed to contain the hostile Buccaneers defense, which contributed to putting the pressure on Patrick Mahomes as he made two costly interceptions in the second half, which only contributed to providing Tom Brady a better field advantage.

The officiating in this year’s Super Bowl was also questionable, as most of the flags thrown that night were directed at Kansas City, especially to safety Tyran Mathieu, who had beefed with Tom Brady all game, taunting him at every chance possible, even after a blatant interception, which was called back, much to the ire of the fans who wanted Tampa Bay to lose at home in the Super Bowl.

The Chiefs also set a record for committing 8 penalties for 98 yards in the first half of the Super Bowl, further questioning just how favored Tampa Bay was to win the Super Bowl, despite being the underdogs.

Tampa Bay, on the other hand, dominated in every way possible, with Tom Brady throwing for 3 touchdowns and 201 yards while completing 21 of 29 passes.

Former Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski also contributed for 2 touchdowns in the endzone, with Leonard Fournette driving it in the endzone for a touchdown of his own, and former Steelers superstar Antonio Brown contributing for another touchdown.

The offense that also featured perennial wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin have also been used to the fullest of their potential this season for the Buccaneers, as they found the right quarterback in Tom Brady to see how far they can go become a reality.

Defensive stars like Ndamukong Suh and former Giants defensive end Jason Pierre Paul also found success once more, as they successfully contributed to putting the pressure on Patrick Mahomes, with Suh recording 1.5 sacks on him in the process.

With a final score of 31-9, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, denying them a second consecutive Super Bowl victory, much like how the Los Angeles Raiders defeated the defending Super Bowl Champion Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII in blowout fashion with a final score of 38-9. They won a Super Bowl for the first time in 18 years and became the first team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl in their home field.

With the win, Tom Brady also became the oldest quarterback to win the Super Bowl at 43 years old, as well as the second quarterback to win multiple Super Bowls with two different teams, the first being Peyton Manning in Super Bowl XLI with the Indianapolis Colts, and the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl L.

Brady also set a record for appearing in his 10th Super Bowl in his illustrious 21 year-career, as he earned his record 7th Super Bowl ring, winning more Super Bowls than the Pittsburgh Steelers, his former team the New England Patriots, where he won six out of nine Super Bowls, the Dallas Cowboys, and the San Francisco 49ers, the team he idolized growing up in the days of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice.

With Tom Brady winning his 7th ring and nothing left to prove except playing until he’s 45 or possibly 50, he’s now bent on reshaping the NFL in his own image, much like Thanos was when he collected all six Infinity Stones. Six rings with New England wasn’t enough, so now he looks to make more history as he resurrects the Buccaneers from a long, dormant slump, and winning Super Bowl LV is only just the beginning.

Let’s see what happens this offseason, whether head coach Bruce Arians looks to retain the starters he has that contributed to this Super Bowl run, or whether he looks to add more pieces to his roster for Tom Brady to work with, especially when it comes to offense.

Although it was a rather anticlimactic end to a season filled with controversy, whether it would be played to its fullest with the spread of COVID-19 running rampant worldwide, and cases spreading like wildfire, the season is now over and done with and the players can now rest, as they recover from this ongoing virus.

Until then, take care of yourself, and each other.