As Super Bowl 58 between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers draws near, the narratives circle around how much the country dislikes the matchup of two of the powerhouses that will compete in Las Vegas. For the Chiefs, their season for many (for better or worse) has centered around Taylor Swift and her romance with superstar tight end Travis Kelce. For the Chiefs, the season has been about the same thing it has always been: winning the Super Bowl.
With the Kansas City offense not firing on all cylinders through much of the season, many questioned if they would even manage to make the playoffs. Even once they fought their way into the postseason, they had to take to the road after beating the Miami Dolphins in Arrowhead Stadium to overcome both the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens. They entered both those games as underdogs and found themselves gelling at the perfect time to make another run to the big game.
Coming up against the 49ers for the second time in the Super Bowl in the Patrick Mahomes era, the Chiefs will look for a repeat of their last meeting, which saw Kansas City bring home their first Lombardi Trophy. Their prior Super Bowl win in 1969 was just before the trophy was renamed in memory of Vince Lombardi, who passed away in 1970.
While their offense may not have been as dominant this year as in years past, the Chiefs have seen a resurgence in their defense, with Chris Jones continuing to dominate and defensive back L’Jarius Sneed quickly becoming one of the best shutdown corners in the NFL. With the 49ers not being a team that has played great from behind and the Chiefs' defense doing a great job of shutting down opposing teams in the second half, Mahomes and company will give themselves a good chance of emerging victorious as long as they can keep the game competitive going into halftime.
While the Chiefs may be the new Evil Empire of the NFL, for many fans throughout the decades of Chiefs irrelevance this is a new and exciting chapter that they should take full advantage of. As much as comparisons are already being made to the New England Patriots dynasty, Andy Reid doesn't pull off a hoodie quite like Bill Belichick.
The Super Bowl takes place this Sunday at 6:30 Eastern.
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