Emily Uzzle|Marlin Chronicle
As an Eagles fan since birth, I was upset that we lost in the Wild Card round of the 2023 playoffs, and I was even more upset when at the end of it all the last two teams standing were the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
I was honestly not looking forward to this Super Bowl, and I am not a fan of either team, but I was not surprised either of them made it. After the Eagles lost, I was hoping it would be the Detroit Lions and the Baltimore Ravens fighting for the Lombardi Trophy. I also thought that no one would really watch the game itself, but boy was I wrong. According to Associated Press, this year’s Super Bowl views beat last year’s by 7%. In addition, the game was the most viewed program ever, with an average of 123.7 million viewers.
I thought the game was pretty boring during the first half. The first drive of the game ended in a fumble by San Francisco, which was recovered by Kansas City. I expected Kansas City to do something with this opportunity and score, but they didn’t.
San Francisco’s second drive was not much better than their first drive. After back-to-back penalties on San Francisco’s offensive tackle Trent Williams, they ended up not scoring. When the first quarter ended, I thought the rest of the game was going to be similar. I expected to be really bored watching it, but I was wrong. It ended up being one of the best football games I had ever watched.
After being down 10-0 towards the end of the second quarter, the Kansas City Chiefs came storming back and went into the last quarter only down by three. The most impressive part of the comeback was Kansas City’s kicker Harrison Butker’s field goal kick. The 57-yard kick is the longest field goal kick in Super Bowl history. After a touchdown and three field goals in the fourth quarter, regular time ended and the game went into overtime. It was only the second Super Bowl to do so.
Overtime annoyed me; the rules for overtime in the Super Bowl are different from during the regular season. In overtime during the regular season, each team gets a chance of a possession, the catch is that if the team that got the ball first scores a touchdown, they will win the game right then.
The rules for overtime in the Super Bowl give both teams a chance at a possession, even if the team who wins the coin toss scores first. Kansas City took advantage of San Francisco getting the ball first and scored a touchdown to end the game and won their fourth Super Bowl in franchise history. I was cheering for the Kansas City Chiefs for multiple reasons. First, because even though I am an Eagles fan, I have a soft spot in my heart for Travis Kelce, not as a player but as a person. Second, because I did not think they would actually win. Third, I rooted for them out of spite for my 12-year-old cousin, who happens to be a 49ers fan. With that being said, when Kansas City actually won, I was annoyed and wished they hadn’t.
It is embarrassing to be defeated by a team whose players have no respect for their coaches, that came back from a 10-0 deficit and most importantly, to lose to Patrick Mahomes. The 49ers should learn from this, and make a run next season.
By: Colette Kearney
cmkearney@vwu.edu
