Las Vegas: A city best known for its bright lights and high stakes rewards now hosts two teams looking for the games ultimate prize, the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Super Bowl LVIII is between two teams that are each held to lofty expectations by championship hungry fanbases who expect nothing but the ring.
The last time the San Francisco 49ers won a Super Bowl some guy named Jeff Bezos formed a small company called “Cadabra Inc” an online bookstore that would later be called “Amazon”. The Niners haven’t lived up to their championship pedigree over the last 30 years as since Steve Young led the team to its last championship they have been close so many times but never have been able to win another ring. They have reached the playoffs 12 times since then but have lost in the NFC championship game seven times and two Super Bowls, 47 and 54. This year’s 49ers were the best team in the NFC all season but that doesn’t mean they had it easy as a three game losing streak to the Browns, Vikings, and Bengals put their season at a point where they had to win. Following the three game slide the Niners won seven of their last nine to clinch the NFC’s top seed. The 49ers headed to the playoffs and got the best that the NFC North could offer as in two playoff games against the Packers and Lions they were pushed to the brink in each game. They trailed by seven to Green Bay in the 4th and down 17 to Detroit in the first half. Both times they came back and won thanks to the likes of Brock Purdy and a defense that made the right plays at the right time to send the 49ers to their 7th Super Bowl and their first since January of 2020. Ironically the team they faced four years ago in Miami is the team they will be facing in Sin City, the Kansas City Chiefs.
The defending champion Chiefs have had quite a season as a whirlwind of stuff was surrounding them the entire season. The stuff in that whirlwind contained statements like, their receivers can’t catch, the defense really runs this team, Travis Kelce is distracted because of Taylor Swift. The list went on and on but when people thought the champs were at its weakest they were really a sleeping giant and the Miami Dolphins woke them up as the Chiefs dismantled an overmatched Dolphin team 26-7 in one of the coldest games in NFL history. Kansas City then headed to Buffalo in another clash with Josh Allen and the Bills. Mahomes Vs. Allen has become the big quarterback rivalry and for the first in Mahomes career, he would have to win on the road. The Chiefs did just that as the Bills were yet again bitten by the words, wide right. The win over Buffalo sent the Chiefs to Baltimore to face the top seeded Ravens and MVP candidate Lamar Jackson. The Kansas City defense shutdown the Ravens offense as they held the NFL’s top rushing team to 81 yards. Mahomes and the offense did just enough to secure their spot in their Super Bowl for the fourth time in the Mahomes-Reid era.
The Super Bowl is a game where everyone makes predictions on everything that will happen in the game. The Spectrum is no different so myself and two writers are going to give you our predictions on who will hoist the trophy come the 11th of February.
Grant Hubbard
Kansas City 24 – San Francisco 21
MVP: Patrick Mahomes
I believe that San Francisco is the better team but I after what has happened the last few weeks I refuse to pick against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs so begrudgingly im picking Kansas City to win back-to-back Super Bowls for the first time since the Patriots did in the early 2000s
Cash Rohman
San Francisco 21 – Kansas City 17
MVP: Deebo Samuel
Kansas City hasn’t dominated as much in the regular season as they had in previous years. I also don’t want to see the Chiefs win back-to-back super bowls.
Camryn Harter
San Francisco 31 – Kansas City 27