One For the Ages

Simon B

    Where do I start? Last night's Super Bowl matchup was as entertaining as it was boring and uneventful. The Kansas City Chiefs were as weak as I've seen them; the Weekend put on a really good halftime show; and surprise, surprise, Tom Brady won his seventh Super Bowl title. 

    In my preview piece on Saturday, I said I had the Chiefs to win by a pretty big margin. Sometimes, predictions don't go your way, this was one of those times. If you had told me before this game that the Bucs would win by 22 points and that Kansas City would not score a touchdown, I would've called you crazy. But that's why we watch the game because you never know what will exactly happen.

Mahomes and...

    The Chiefs’ offense was almost non-existent. At the end of the game, the broadcast was showing some of the KC players and they all looked helpless and deflated. The only player who really deserved to look like that was Partick Mahomes. He played the entire game with a turf toe injury (for which he will have surgery) and was dodging rushers all night long. Not only was he constantly under pressure, but he was making really good passes with little to no blocking in front of him. I'm not saying that the rest of the Chiefs' offensive line was not trying but I've seen what they're capable of when they're firing on all cylinders. They were missing a few crucial members of the offensive line, and that certainly didn't help them, but Mahomes was scrambling all night long. On top of that, he never got much help on the receiving end. Travis Kelce played alright but showed us nothing compared to what we've seen from him every game until last night. Tyreek Hill was shut down and practically invisible as well. Mahomes did everything he possibly could to try and give his team a sliver of a chance at the Lombardi Trophy.

Impeccable Defence

I just finished talking about how the Chief's offense was extremely sub-par. But that was due in large part to some exceptional defense by the Buccaneers. Tom Brady got the Super Bowl MVP (his record fifth) but if it was possible to give that award to an entire group of players, I'd give it to Tampa's defensive line. They gave Mahomes no time or space to make the plays that the Chiefs had. You'd need five hands to count the number of times Mahomes was running 20 to 25 yards behind the line of scrimmage to avoid being sacked. Their secondary coverage was amazing, too: Travis Kelce was constantly covered in the red zone, and the Bucs gave him no room to run most of his routes properly. The Bucs’ defense stopped Tyreek Hill before he could even start running. To be honest, that's the only way you can stop Tyreek Hill because he's just so fast. All in all, the Bucs 100% deserve that victory. It was a complete team effort on both sides of the Ball

Tom Terrific

Here's a fun stat to bring up at your next get together (via zoom or not): Tom Brady has a higher percentage of getting to the Super Bowl than Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry does to make a 3-point shot (if you don't know, Curry is one of the best 3-point shooters ever). Here's another stat: The record for Super Bowls won by a single team is shared by the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers at six. Tom Brady alone has seven Championships. Tom Terrific also has more Super Bowl MVP's than Joe Montana had Super Bowl wins. All those facts clear up one thing: don't tell Tom Brady his playing days are over. He'll tell you when they're over. He's dominated the sport since the turn of the millennium and, at 43, is showing no signs of slowing down at all. Don't be surprised if next season, Brady comes back even hungrier for an eighth title. 

The Local Boy

This isn’t my specialty so I went to someone who knows entertainment much better.

 By Chloé B: 

The half-time show and the ads are a big part of the game for a lot of fans, so let’s give that talent a moment here! While there were some real heart-rending ads (Springsteen offering a balm to America’s weary soul in “The Middle” for Jeep, and Toyota’s feature of Jessica Long, 13-time Paralympic gold medalist) I’ll skip that review in favor of the entertainment itself.

If you’re a fan of The Weeknd’s, his performance was nothing less than extraordinary. Right from the beginning, he surprised the crowd with an entrance on a screen before coming through the staircase where the choir stood with glowing red eyes. Starting off with “Starboy” was a wonderful choice, because it was a song that most had heard before but wasn’t his big hit. The lighting and choreography of the choir fit perfectly with the Weeknd's’ funky style. After “Starboy” he struck the audience with “ The Hills” show off the other side of his career.

Kudos to the lighting and fireworks artists, choreographers, and dancers who created a visual show that kept pace with his vocals and created a backdrop of constantly-changing colors to match the mood and song themes. After “The Hills”, he moved into a maze of mirrors and lights underneath the bleachers to reunite with the choir as he delivered ““I Can’t Feel My Face,” one of his biggest and earliest hits. He was then joined by dancers wearing bandages and masks reflecting the surgery theme from his hit “Save Your Tears,” and kept ramping up the pace all the way through to his finale, 2020’s number one hit “Blinding Lights.” I can’t imagine how hard it is to choose who’ll perform at the halftime show and try to find something that thousands of people in person, and millions watching remotely, will all like. 

 Yes, my sister Chloe, who loves The Weeknd, was thrilled. Me, I’m all about sports. My aunt Judy likes the ads. Something for everybody, and if none of that floated your boat, I hope your Super Bowl menu was at least half as good as mine! 

The Wrap

    I like when games come down to the last drive, most people do. However, the fact that it was Brady versus Mahomes made it really exciting. It felt like the game could get close at any moment which is why I stayed and watched to the end. 

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