Super Bowl 58 recap

CHIEFS 25

49ERS 22

OT

The Kansas City Chiefs have their dynasty. The Chiefs won their 3rd title in 5 years, with probably their weakest team of the entire Mahomes era.

Contrary to the complaining by much of social media, I thought this was quite a good game even before the scoring picked up. Tired of idiots who think games with a lot of defense are inherently bad. 

Going in, I picked the Chiefs to win by multiple scores. Why would the 49ers prove a tougher task than road games in Buffalo and Baltimore? 

But the 49ers were the much better team out of the gate, gashing the Chiefs defense immediately on their opening drive, that then ended with a Christian McCaffrey fumble.

Defenses controlled the game early on. In particular the 49ers defense, which had been often throttled by the Packers and Frauds, made life pretty miserable for Mahomes early on.

The 49ers scored first, on a Super Bowl record long field goal by Jake Moody.

The Chiefs answered with their 1st real drive of the game, but then Isiah Pacheco fumbled inside the 10 and that was that.

A few drives later the 49ers got the game's first touchdown on a screen pass from WR Jauan Jennings to McCaffrey.

At this point, late in the first half, the 49ers had a 10-0 lead and were far and away the better team. The Chiefs desperately needed points before halftime, and they did get some with a field goal just before the break.

Excellent halftime show, with Usher and guests, including Alicia Keys 😘. 

Then onto the 2nd half, which didn't look a whole lot better for the Chiefs, when they fumbled a pitch on the 1st play and Mahomes threw an ugly pick on the 3rd play. 

The 49ers defense was still in command, but their offense kept missing chances to build on the lead. After a few punts, the Chiefs cut into that.lead when Harrison Butker broke Moody's record with a 57 yard field goal. 

More punts, and then the first really massive play of the game for the Chiefs, as the 49ers muffed a punt and gave KC the ball instantly in the redzone. Wasting no time, Mahomes fired to MVS and just like that the Chiefs, clearly outplayed most of the game, had the lead.

Undeterred, the 49ers snoozing offense finally woke up and put together their best drive of the game to retake the lead on a Brock Purdy to Jennings TD. Moody's extra point was blocked, however, which would loom very large.

Into the 4th quarter, the offenses had awakened. Mahomes drove the Chiefs to a tying field goal.

Credit to Purdy, who didn't shrink under the pressure, and led a drive that got the 49ers to potentially within one first down of clinching the game. Didn't happen though. A well timed 3rd down blitz forced them to have to kick, and Moody came through with a 53 yarder.

But they didn't dagger Mahomes, and you just cannot give this guy a chance. He had less than 2 minutes, but was there any doubt what would happen? Honestly, only some poor clock management kept the Chiefs from likely winning it on this drive. A huge 3rd down completion to Travis Kelce got the Chiefs into the redzone, but they only had enough time left for one endzone shot. They had to kick. Butker made it and we were off to overtime.

And a real overtime, with drama, unlike that Patriots-Falcons game where OT carried no suspense. Plus this one had the newer rule where both teams were guaranteed a possession. 

49ers won the toss, and took the ball. Arguably would have been smarter to play defense first. It was almost disastrous when Purdy was nearly picked on his 1st pass. But he rebounded and led a drive that got the 49ers as far as the Chiefs 9. But another well executed blitz forced a quick throw by Purdy that went incomplete. They settled for 3, and put their title hopes on the back of their defense.

But that defense had let Mahomes get going, and was now powerless to stop what was coming.

The 49ers did get the Chiefs into a 4th and 1, but Mahomes easily scampered for the 1st down. Then by the time Mahomes had another big run inside the 20 the only mystery left was would the game last into a second OT.

It did not. After a couple more plays, and with the final seconds of OT1 ticking away, Mahomes flipped a short pass to a wide open Mecole Hardman in the front corner of the endzone to win the game.

A crushing loss for the 49ers, who led most of the game but could never put it away. Kyle Shanahan again loses a Super Bowl with a double digit lead. Purdy played well. I actually think he silenced a lot of doubters in this game. He and his team may still get a couple cracks at this thing. 

And the Chiefs become the first repeat champs since the Cheatriots in 03-04, topping off their most impressive playoff run. Mahomes just keeps piling up the accomplishments. 3 Super Bowl MVPs. All 3 won with double digit comebacks. He is the most unstoppable entity I have ever seen. If he is on late, you can't beat him. 

He is already unquestionably top 5 all time, and there is no reason to think he can't win at least a couple more and wipe away any doubt that he is #1.

So, thus ends the 2023 NFL season. The season from hell is over. A miserable season, but one that at least ended with a very good super bowl between two teams I don't mind.