Super Bowl LV could not have gone much worse for the Kansas City Chiefs. The score wasn’t close as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came away with a dominant 31-9 win. The Tampa Bay defense completely shut down the K.C. offense. Tom Brady and the offense took advantage of the opportunities that they had. The Chiefs special teams was abysmal and the officiating was, well, let’s just call it frustrating. Simply put, there was no bright side for the Chiefs in this game. It was all bad.
It was the first time in Patrick Mahomes’ career that he and the Chiefs were never in the game. While Mahomes gave a heroic effort, at the end of the day, the decimated offensive line had him running for his life and his skill players couldn’t bail him out. Hats off to Todd Bowles and the Bucs defense, as they did what no other defense has done in three seasons. I don’t want to hear about the injuries or the officiating either. Yes, there are some valid points to be made, but the Bucs defense was just about perfect in this game in terms of planning and execution. Making excuses is a disservice to Bowles and his unit, and they deserve all the praise after this game as far as I’m concerned.
I also have to tip my cap to Tom Brady, as much as it stings. I thought he was washed after last season, but he was sharp in this game and you simply can’t argue with seven Super Bowl rings. He’s the GOAT and deserves that title 100%. I thought maybe if Mahomes dominated Brady head-to-head in this game and grabbed his second Super Bowl win at such a young age, we could start to talk about him challenging Brady, but that’s a hard sell right now.
So should Chiefs fans mope into the offseason and wallow in self pity at just how awful this all is?
No, not by a long shot.
This chapter ended badly, but it’s not the end of the story for the Chiefs.
Look, the game itself was awful, no argument there, but the big picture for the Chiefs and Chiefs Kingdom is still very, very good. Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes have been together (with Patrick as the starter) for three seasons. The Chiefs were one penalty away from making the Super Bowl in their first season, won the Super Bowl in their second, and made it back to the Super Bowl but lost in their third. That’s an amazing track record, and there’s every reason to believe the Chiefs will be favorites to win it all next season.
While the Chiefs were dominated in this game, who knows how things would have been if they had just one or two of the offensive linemen they lost for this game? This team isn’t losing much next season and they certainly don’t need to tear things down and rebuild. They basically need Brett Veach to keep the band together and fill a few holes here and there and that should be all that is needed to make another run next year. Almost every team in the NFL would kill to trade places with the Chiefs going into next season.
Even the offensive line that was a train wreck in this game may not need a complete overhaul depending on the future of all the guys that were out in this game. Even if they just bring a couple of them back, it could go a long way. There will be plenty of time over the next few months to speculate on who they bring back and who they should target in the draft and free agency, but the big picture is that there simply aren’t that many holes to fill.
This loss sucked. Period. That doesn’t change the fact that we are living in the golden age of Chiefs football. We already have a Super Bowl in the bank with this team. They made it to back-to-back Super Bowls and were a Dee Ford offsides penalty away from being in three in a row.
I wrote last week before the game that the Chiefs “Four Horsemen” of Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, and Travis Kelce will continue to be one of the most dominant forces in the NFL as long as they are all together and still in their prime. While the combination of a hobbled offensive line and an outstanding performance by Tampa’s defense kept them from shining in the Super Bowl, I still believe that to be true. This game was a rare anomaly. I have no reason to believe it is a sign of things to come for the Chiefs offense.
So take a day or two to get over how terrible the Super Bowl was and then step back and look at the big picture. I think most Chiefs fans will agree that the future is still bright. The Super Bowl win last season took away the cursed franchise feeling. That monkey isn’t coming back any time soon. We still have the best young quarterback the NFL has ever seen ,and now he has the motivation of this loss to add to the fire of finishing third in the MVP voting. I’m actually hoping he’s underrated in the NFL Top 100 list again this year, too. This loss will fire up this team, and I’m confident that they’ll show up next season with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove.
This loss was rough, but we spent decades hoping for a future as bright as what the Chiefs have right now and that makes it a little easier to get over a loss like this and to turn the page on this season. This chapter ended badly, but it’s not the end of the story and I believe there are great things in store for the Chiefs in the chapters to come.