The Super Bowl was as exciting as any in recent history, at least the fourth quarter was. The performances to open the superbowl were quite good, Yolanda Adams and Demi Lovato performed admirably and both the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs came out as professionals and played a relatively good, clean game.
The first half was defense dominated, a low scoring affair that led to a half-time score of 10-10. It was clear in the last few minutes of the first half that the 49ers coach, Kyle Shanahan, did not trust his quarterback, Jimmy Garopolo, to drive the team down the field and instead opted for conservative play calling to get the team to half time.
The halftime entertainment was a strong performance by Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, joined by lesser known artists J. Balvin and Bad Bunny. The performers displayed their talents for music in both english and spanish in what was a return to a more traditional halftime performance compared to the odd choice of performers from last year.
In the third quarter 49ers managed to gain a lead over the Chiefs to tune of 20-10, which lasted until halfway through the fourth. Around the eight minute mark in the fourth the Chief began to turn the game around and scored 21 unanswered points. The team rallied, led by their young quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, who ended the game with 286 yards passing on a 26/42 performance with a couple of touchdowns and a couple of interceptions thrown. He also managed 29 yards on 9 carries and a touchdown. The performance earned him Super Bowl MVP honors.
Unfortunately for the 49ers you can have a great defense, but at some point the offense has to provide some points and help maintain the lead. The chiefs came out and were the better team, their stars all made plays on both sides of the ball. Mahomes played great, as did Damien Williams who broke 100 yards rushing and caught a handful of passes, he had both a rushing and receiving touchdown. Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, and Travis Kelce were all productive at their positions catching multiple passes and helping to move the ball with efficiency. On defense Chris Jones made a couple of huge pass deflections at the line of scrimmage that killed a couple of drives for the 49ers.
The game as a whole was quality football, the 49ers lost because the offense couldn’t get it done. The Chiefs won with a team effort that cannot be discounted, they were solid in all phases of the game, though Mahomes looked out of sorts for the better part of three quarters.
Duck's Sports Report 