(Nic Jones/ Wikimedia Commons)
A record 123.4 million Americans gathered around their TV’s to watch the underdog Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers to win Super Bowl 58. Led by superstar Patrick Mahomes, who claimed his third Super Bowl MVP of his young career, the Chiefs are now the first team to win back to back super bowls since the 2003-2004 New England Patriots.
The Chiefs won the coin toss and elected to defer, so the Niners started out with the ball. They strung together an impressive opening drive, utilizing star running back Christian McCaffery in the run game. The Chiefs ended up forcing a McCaffery fumble in the red zone, and Mahomes and the Chiefs offense took the field, though not for long. The Niners defense forced a quick three-and-out thanks to a sack by former Ohio State edge rusher, Chase Young.
The rest of the first half went back and forth, with the Niners up three with four minutes left thanks to a super bowl record 55 yard field goal by Jake Moody, a record that lasted for a whopping one hour. Finally, the first touchdown ocame off a 49ers touchdown pass by Jauan Jennings. He received a screen pass from Brock Purdy and proceeded to toss it across the field to McCaffery, who took it for a touchdown. The Niners went into halftime with a 10-3 lead.
After a brief wait, Usher took the field to perform the halftime show. His set featured hits “Caught Up” and “Turn Down For What.” He was joined by Alicia Keys, Lil Jon, will.i.am, and Ludacris.
Within minutes as the second half began, Jake Moody’s record breaking 55 yard field goal was surpassed by Harrison Butker, who hit a 57-yarder to cut the deficit to six. The Niners muffed the kick, and Kansas City recovered and scored the touchdown to take the lead. The Niners responded, but Moody missed the extra point. The teams went to and fro hitting field goals for the rest of regulation, including the Chiefs game tie-er with 30 seconds remaining.
This was the first game under the new overtime rules where each team gets a chance to score. The 49ers won the toss but shocked the world by electing to receive the ball first. They marched down the field and hit a field goal. Now it was Mahomes’s turn. He led the Chiefs down inside the 10 yard line, and hit Mecole Hardman in the end zone for the walkoff game winning touchdown.
