The pro football prognosticators found themselves surprised once again in Super Bowl LV, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers not only beat the Kansas City Chiefs, giving Tom Brady his seventh ring (more than any franchise has) in his tenth Super Bowl appearance (more than any other player), but they throttled the defending world champions, 31-9. The Buccaneers pressured Patrick Mahomes 29 times, setting a Super Bowl record, as the Bucs’ defense was the real story.
Let’s take a closer look at this NFL betting shocker from Sunday night.
NFL News: Super Bowl LV Hangover: Why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Won
To their credit, the Kansas City Chiefs never gave up, never dropped their heads. Even down 31-9, the Chiefs were driving into the Patriots’ end of the field, with about five minutes left to go. Patrick Mahomes took a shotgun snap and found Ndamukong Suh and Cam Gill both bearing down on him. They met at the quarterback, as defensive linemen are taught to do, and the last hope of the Chiefs’ offense blew out. For the first time in 54 starts as a professional quarterback, Mahomes did not lead his team into the end zone. Tyreek Hill had a would-be touchdown pass clank off his hands and face mask, and another deflected pass into the end zone ended up in the hands of a Tampa Bay defender, but the Chiefs did not score a touchdown. A team that had won 25 of its last 26 competitive games (not counting Week 17 this year, when the Chiefs sat Mahomes and other starters) had just fallen to Tampa Bay by 22 points.
While Tom Brady collected the MVP trophy, the real story of this Super Bowl was the collection of talent that greeted him when he arrived from New England. His long run with the Patriots came to an ignominious end with a pick-six at home in the wild card round of the playoffs, a loss to the Tennessee Titans that was about as shocking as the Bucs’ win over Kansas City. The defense, led by Todd Bowles, was bone-crushing up front, against the run and in the pass rush, particularly after Week 12, when the Chiefs came down to Raymond James Stadium and lit the Bucs up for 17 points in the first quarter en route to a win. The secondary improved its coverage as well, but when a quarterback is under duress a second or two after the snap, the job for the defensive backs gets much, much easier.
On offense, the Buccaneers have a much better offensive line than what Brady had in front of him that last season in New England. It is also a much better line than what the Chiefs put out in front of Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Both starting tackles were out due to injury, and of the five starters that the Chiefs planned to start the season with, four were gone. Every team has injury issues, and the Chiefs had been able to plug the holes, thanks to Mahomes’ quickness, but with both tackles gone, Tampa Bay feasted on Mahomes all day.
Even so, Mahomes almost made a couple of highlight-reel completions while whirling and spinning away from defenders. Travis Kelce dropped a pass near the end zone. Hill dropped that possible touchdown. During both of those plays, Mahomes looked like an acrobat, something out of Blue Man Group with his contortions in the pocket.
Then there was the defense. The Chiefs got all over Josh Allen in the AFC Championship, confusing him with a variety of coverages and pass rush schemes. It is hard to fool Tom Brady, of course, but the Chiefs got nothing like the same pressure on him — and he wasn’t flinging the ball out on quick checkdowns, either. The Chiefs had no backbone in their front seven, and there was confusion on multiple plays with respect to the coverages. It probably did not help that linebackers coach Britt Reid had to remain in Kansas City, hospitalized after what may turn out to have been a DUI accident that endangered the lives of two young children. That sort of distraction is hard to leave behind, to be sure, but wherever the Chiefs’ defenders’ minds were, it was not at the Super Bowl.
So give Brady the MVP trophy, but there were many factors that combined to put that seventh ring on his finger — factors that have him eager to return and win an eighth title next year.
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