Super Bowl 58 Recap

The Kansas City Chiefs might never lose again. The NFL’s new evil empire is officially here and dynasty talks are underway as Patrick Mahomes led his Chiefs to the first back-to-back Super Bowl victory since the New England Patriots beat the ‘Cardiac Cats’ Carolina Panthers in 2004 (as Reese was crying in his crib) before following it up with a win against the Eagles in 2005.

The first half last night was, for the most part, an absolute snoozefest but once both teams settled in in the second half Super Bowl 58 turned into an instant classic. After a 0-0 first quarter the Niners struck first with a 55-yard field goal, before following it up a few drives later when Reese’s favorite player Jauan Jennings pulled off his best Joe Montana impression, slinging the ball back across the field on a trick play to set up Christian McCaffrey with a 21-yard receiving touchdown that gave San Francisco a 10-0 lead. The Chiefs, however, were able to make it a one-score game to end the half, as Harrison Butker drilled a 28 yard field goal on the ensuing drive.

The Chiefs’ struggles seemed to carry over into the second half with a Mahomes pick on their first drive out of the locker room, and the teams traded punts before Kansas City was able to tack on another field goal, this time from 57 yards – the longest in Super Bowl history to make the score 10-6 San Fran. The 49ers had absolutely nothing going in the Third Quarter, and a muffed punt just a couple of drives later set up Mahomes for a 16-yard touchdown strike to Valdez-Scantling on the very next play. 

Purdy finally got his guys into a groove on the next play, marching the 49ers on a 12 play, 75 yard drive that ended with a touchdown by…… none other than Jauan Jennings. At this point, it looked like Jauan the Don was primed to win the MVP much to Reese’s excitement, but we all watched the game so we know what happened next: Patty Mahomes did Patty Mahomes things.

We circled back to our preview from before the game to see how our X-Factors played, whether our Question Mark picks played a factor, and how our betting selections turned out. 

Grading our preview:

X-Factors:

Ross: Nick Bolton

While Bolton wasn’t able to match his heroic performance from last year, he clocked in a real solid performance. The Chiefs defense was great as a whole, and Bolton led the game for in total tackles with 13 for the second straight season. His 22 combined tackles puts him in the top 10 in super bowl history, despite only playing in two games. If the Chiefs are able to make it back to the big stage in the near future – which at this point seems more likely than not – Bolton would need 12 tackles to tie Rodney Harrison for the all-time lead. 

Reese: Brock Purdy

I think that I got this right… Obviously the 49ers didn’t come out with the win in Super Bowl 58, but, they put themselves in position to win the game in overtime. Purdy wasn’t outstanding, but he took care of the ball and allowed the playmakers to do take over when needed. In hindsight, the X-factor was coaching, and Andy Reid made his team aware of the new overtime rules during training camp. Meanwhile, kookoo Kyle Shanahan didn’t address the rules with his team, which lead to widespread confusion and ultimately cost them the game. Sadly for America, the preparation of champions is what sets the Chiefs apart from the rest of the league.

Corb: Christian McCaffrey

I think McCaffrey was clearly the best player on the field for the 49ers. The argument can be made for Jauan Jennings*, but I feel like he did not not get nearly the same level of attention from the Chiefs defense that McCaffery did. Unfortunately, it felt like McCaffrey could not really break off a long run in this game despite getting what seemed like a solid chunk of yards each carry. He was also lethal catching the ball all game, with Purdy giving him a lot of opportunities to catch the ball in a spot where he could get a good head of steam. I wish the 49ers relied on the run game for the whole game, but they did not really lean on it early and tried to be too aggressive with the lead. It seemed like they really only committed to it when the game got close and in overtime, but you have to make the game unreachable by that point or else Mahomes will take advantage.

*Jauan disrespect here is crazy

Question Marks:

Honorable Mention: Tony Romo… he was horrible on the call

Ross: Kyle Shanahan in the Super Bowl

Kyle Shanahan is now 0-3 in three games coached in the Super Bowl, with his team holding at least a ten point lead in all of them. I don’t think it was Shanahan who lost the game for the 49ers – I actually thought he made some really gutsy calls with the Jennings trick play and going for it on fourth down down three in the fourth quarter (which I still don’t think was necessarily the right call but probably made Dan Campbell shed a tear). As Reese mentioned above, though, the fact that Shanahan never thought it might be a good idea to go over the playoff overtime rules with his team is unexplainable, especially since they’ve been in place for two years now. While Andy Reid had his team well prepared for a playoff OT possibility, it seems like Kyle Shanahan didn’t even consider it.

Reese: 49ers Pass Rush

We can replace this question mark with an exclamation point. For the majority of the game (especially the first half) the 49ers were getting to Patrick Mahomes influencing him to force balls into coverage, scramble for his life, and chuck two handed chest passes back to the line of scrimmage. Chase Young proved me wrong and took off his cloak of invisibility, while the rest of the crew continued their solid performances. They finished with a game high 3 sacks and 6 tackles for loss, which contributed significantly to the 10-3 first half score. It’s safe to say that this question mark was not the reason for a Niners loss.  

Corb: Brock Purdy

I get what Reese is saying in his paragraph above, and I definitely do not think Purdy had a bad game, but he missed the throws that you would expect from an elite quarterback. Purdy often turns his back to his throw when there is pressure in his face, and it clearly causes him to miss some throws. Looking back at that game there were at least two throws that Purdy missed that would have won the 49ers the game. The deep ball to Deebo and the third down throw to Jennings, were throws where there was pressure in Purdy’s face and he seemed to just chuck it and hope for the best. I know these were hard throws, and I am not sure that if you put a different quarterback in that situation, they would have completed that throw. All I am saying is that the opportunity for Purdy to make the big plays that seals them the game was presented to Purdy multiple times, and he just was not able to convert on them. 

Props:

Ross: Kelce o72.5 receiving yards (-110)

Even when Travis Kelce had one reception for one yard in the first half, this was still the most no-brainer bet of all time. Not quite sure why this line was so low to begin with. Even though I was not a fan of Kelce’s elder abuse against America’s Sweetheart Andy Reid, you simply can’t bet against him or Mahomes, especially in a tight game.

Reese: Jauan Jennings Anytime TD (+750)

Dynamic, explosive, electrifying, versatile, slippery, and game-breaking, these are all adjectives that describe the one and only Jauan Jennings. When Jennings caught a pass from Purdy and proceeded to throw a gazerbeam across the field to McCaffrey, I knew I was a genius…Turns out passing touchdowns don’t count as anytime touchdowns (I’m a rookie gambler). But, to nobody’s surprise, Jauan Jennings followed it up with a 10 yard touchdown catch, bulldozing through multiple defenders and refusing to go down. He would not be denied entry unlike Jackson Mahomes at the club on Friday night. Shoutout Jauan, you are the GOAT.  

Corb: Christian McCaffrey o89.5 (-125)

This was brutal. Should have just gone with the anytime score and said hammer it. I am not mad at McCaffrey because he played lights out, but would have preferred less catches and more runs just for my bets’ sake. It felt like all game McCaffery was due to break one off for 30+ yards but for some reason he just could not get past that second level. 

Game Special Bets:

Ross: Tails (-104)

Apologies for this one folks. Just an absolutely boneheaded pick on my part. 

Reese: Heads (-104)

Most Passing/Receiving/Rushing: Mahomes/Rashee/CMC (+820) (Gatorade color NOT cool blue)

Heads was a no-brainer to begin with, but when Ross turned to me and said “Big Cat put 10k on tails” I knew I would be a rich man. The triple crown bet went 2/3 , the odd man out was Rashee and it wasn’t shocking to see him put up only 39 yards. Lastly, Gatorade color NOT being cool blue was the lock of the century. After I received 235 likes on my Instagram comment dissing cool blue gatorade, I knew the Chiefs wouldn’t put that horrible flavor in their buckets.  

Corb: Gatorade Color: YELLOW (+300)

I saw on twitter after the game some people were upset that they did not see the gatorade shower. This was actually an option on DraftKings, and I actually thought about betting on it. If there was actually no shower, I think all Americans would have taken to the streets and rioted. Turns out that it was actually purple, which was the favorite if I remember correctly. Does not shock me that the Chiefs drink purple gatorade because that color is gross. 

Game/Score Predictions:

Actual Score – Chiefs 25, 49ers 22

Ross: Kansas City 31, San Francisco 24

A fumble-filled, ten point first half had this prediction pretty much dead in the water from the start. Even an extra 15 minutes couldn’t get either team’s point total to my prediction, and while I thought the Chiefs would win a little more handily, at least I picked the winner right, unlike Mr. Corb down there. 

Reese: Kansas City 27, San Francisco 23

Not a bad guess here. I didn’t expect the missed extra point and had a feeling there would be a safety for the Chiefs…

Corb: San Francisco 28, KC 24 

I was wrong on my prediction but this is why I did not bet the game. This was purely an emotional prediction. If I was betting with my brain, I would have said Chiefs.