The Biggest Game of the Year

The AFC and NFC championship games were played on Sunday and coming out on top were the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As a result, these two teams will battle on January 11 in hopes of winning Super Bowl 55. The Chiefs are looking to repeat as Super Bowl Champions. As for the Buccaneers, they are making their first trip to the Super Bowl since 2003 and just the second trip in team history. The game will be played in Tampa Bay on the Buccaneers field—- the first time in Super Bowl history that one of the teams will get to play in their own stadium. Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus, attendance will be limited, so any home field advantage should be minimized. With everything aside, Super Bowl 55 should be a great game that comes down to the wire.

For the Kansas City Chiefs, success is nothing new. They were Super Bowl champs last year and have been a playoff team for the past six seasons. They head into the Super Bowl with a league best 16-2 record and they are led by an MVP caliber quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. This will be his second Super Bowl start in only his 4th year as an NFL quarterback, and many players are saying that he is the future of the NFL. The Chiefs also have Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce, one of the top receiving duos. They are both in the top eight for receiving yards per game in the NFL this season. In fact, Travis Kelce broke the single season record for most receiving yards this year by a tight end and is considered by many to be the leagues’ best tight end. The Chiefs have a potent offense, but bad news struck after Sunday’s victory over the Buffalo Bills when it was announced that starting left tackle Eric Fisher tore his Achilles. Although the Chiefs are known for their offense, their defense has played extremely well this season. Their cornerbacks have been doing a great job of guarding and shutting down opposing receivers. The Chiefs are really clicking right now and are believed to be the most unstoppable team in the NFL.

On the other side, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers also have a balanced blend of both defensive and offensive talent. In the NFC title game, the Buccaneers defense forced two critical turnovers that would ultimately win them the game against the Green Bay Packers. The team is led by legendary quarterback Tom Brady. He is making his 10th Super Bowl appearance, but his first in a Tampa Bay Buccaneer uniform, having spent most of his career with the New England Patriots. Like the Chiefs, the Buccaneers have a great set of receivers led by Mike Evans. They also have a better running game than the Chiefs and will need to get it going to win the game. Throughout the playoffs, the Buccaneers defense has been dominant. They have been sacking the quarterback and forcing turnovers. They will have to play at the top of their game to try and slow down the best offense the NFL has to offer. Tampa Bay comes into the Super Bowl with a 14-5 record, but have been on a tear recently. They hope to continue this success in the Super Bowl and win it in front of their home crowd.

So how do these teams match up? The two have already played this season at Tampa Bay in late November and the Chiefs won the game 27-24. In this game, Patrick Mahomes threw for 462 yards with 269 of those yards going to Tyreek Hill. If Mahomes and Hill play like this again, the Chiefs will repeat as Super Bowl Champions. However, the Chiefs have been known to struggle against powerful running teams, but the Buccaneers didn’t take advantage of this the first time around, only gaining 75 rushing yards. Hopefully the Super Bowl is a lot like the nail-biting, regular season matchup these two teams had.

As of Monday, the Chiefs are 3.5 point favorites. There is a lot of hype and excitement surrounding the game because of the quarterback matchup. Tom Brady is 43 years-old while Patrick Mahomes is 26. Tom Brady is considered to be the best quarterback of all time because he has won the Super Bowl 6 times. Patrick Mahomes is said to be the best quarterback in the NFL currently, and most think he is the future of the NFL. The old vet and the young gunslinger make for a must see matchup on Super Bowl Sunday.