Joshua Banner
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs to win Super Bowl LV on February 7th. Bruce Arians became the oldest coach to win the Super Bowl, and Tom Brady won his 7th Super Bowl, more than any player in NFL history. Tom Brady also broke his own record from two years prior of being the oldest quarterback to win a Super Bowl.
With Brady’s 7th Super Bowl victory, he now has more Super Bowl wins than any franchise in NFL history, winning more than the Steelers and his former team in the Patriots who once held the record with 6. Tom Brady put together a great performance with a passer rating of 125.8, his best in Super Bowl History. He also threw 3 touchdowns, all to his former teammates in New England: two to tight end Rob Gronkowski, and one to wide receiver Antonio Brown. Former Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette also was able to score a touchdown.
Between Brady, Gronkowski, Brown, Fournette, and former Chiefs and Titans kicker Ryan Succop, every point scored by the Buccaneers were by a player that was not on the team a year prior.
Brady’s win additionally made him the first player to win in 3 different decades. He also became the second quarterback to win a Super Bowl for two different franchises, along with Peyton Manning. He became the first player over 40 to win a championship for two teams in any major North American league.
In addition to all the records broken, Brady won his 5th Super Bowl MVP award, putting him two above the next highest in the category, quarterback Joe Montana with 3.
With so much accomplished in his career, rumors of Brady retiring if he won emerged, yet Brady was quick to shut it down when asked about it by CBS he said, “We’re coming back, you already know that.”
On the other side, the Buccaneers’ defense was able to hold the Chiefs’ powerful offense to only 9 points. MVP candidate quarterback Patrick Mahomes struggled to have any time in the pocket all game long. The Chiefs were without Pro Bowl lineman Eric Fisher and All-Pro lineman Mitchell Schwartz, and their absence was especially notable, as Mahomes felt the most pressure on more than half of his drop backs, more than any quarterback in Super Bowl history.
Ndamukong Suh led the team with 1.5 sacks, followed by Shaquil Barrett with 1 sack and 4 QB hits. Devin White led the team in tackles with 12, and additionally racked up an interception.
Because of the tremendous pressure on Mahomes all game, the Chiefs were only able to muster 3 field goals. Super Bowl LV became the first NFL game in Patrick Mahomes’s career in which the Chiefs did not score a touchdown.
Rookie Antoine Winfield Jr. (son of Pro-Bowl DB with the same name) was tasked with guarding All-Pro WR Tyreek Hill, who earlier in the season torched the Buccaneers with 13 receptions, 269 yards, and 3 touchdowns. Winfield was able to defend much better this time around and was able to get revenge on him by holding up the peace sign in his face after stopping him on 4th down, symbolic of what Hill did to him when they met earlier in the season. Winfield was penalized for taunting, but the game was as good as over at that point.
Despite how the Buccaneers were able to dominate through most of the game, it was the Kansas City Chiefs who were 3-point favorites going into the game. In a survey conducted by Morning Consult, 41% predicted the Chiefs would win, and only 24% predicted it would be the Buccaneers. Still, there were some gamblers who put their trust in Tampa Bay and were rewarded greatly. According to Draft Kings, as much as $3.46 million was placed on the Buccaneers, which resulted in a total payout of $6.18 million.
From a team standpoint, the Buccaneers were much more disciplined. The Buccaneers were only called for 4 penalties, the Chiefs were called for 11.
“For the first 5 minutes it was quiet,” Mahomes said in his end-of-year press conference, detailing his team’s reactions after the loss. “Guys were obviously taking everything in, falling short, then it just turned into, ‘We’re going to be back.’”
As for the Buccaneers, they will be looking to return back into the big game, with head coach Bruce Ariens looking to return with Brady and company. If they do so, they would be the first team since Brady’s Patriots in 2004-2005 to be back-to-back champions.
