The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are officially the NFL champions, after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV on Sunday night.
The fact that they won wasn’t a shock, considering they were led by legendary quarterback Tom Brady. What was surprising, however, was the manner in which they did it.
As good as Brady is, no one expected Tampa Bay to blow out Kansas City in such an embarrassing fashion. Many expected it to go down to the wire, and most people favored the Chiefs to win.
After all, the Chiefs were not only the defending champions, but also the clear best team in the league throughout the entire season, sporting a league-best 14-2 record. Led by MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes, they ran a tight ship, one so dominant that even Brady should’ve had his hands full with.
The result Sunday night was quite different, with Brady picking apart the Kansas City defense like it was nothing. He ended the game with 21 pass completions out of 29 attempts, along with 201 passing yards and three touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns were to tight end Rob Gronkowski, who he’d already had much experience playing with during their time on the New England Patriots.
However, a lot of credit must be given to the Tampa Bay defense, who essentially neutralized Patrick Mahomes like no one had ever seen before, sacking him three times and intercepting him twice. Indeed, this Super Bowl game was the first time in Mahomes’ entire career that he had lost by double-digits, a shocking statistic. Even more shocking was the fact that the Chiefs didn’t score one touchdown the entire game.
“They took away our deep stuff,” said Mahomes. “They took away the sidelines, and they did a good job of rallying to the football and making tackles.”
However, Mahomes is still 25 years old and should have plenty of new opportunities to add more Super Bowls to his resume. Meanwhile, the 43-year-old Tom Brady clearly wanted to show everyone why he’s the greatest football player of all time. After winning his 7th Super Bowl in convincing fashion, you’d be hard put to find someone who disagrees.
