Super Bowl LIV took place on February 2nd, 2020, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The game was between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers and was the first time in history the two teams have met in a Super Bowl.
The Kansas City Chiefs had played in just two Super Bowls with their last one being 50 years ago when they defeated the Minnesota Vikings. This was the San Francisco 49ers’ seventh appearance in the Super Bowl, winning five of their six games.
The Kansas City Chiefs were expected to win but by a very small margin. By the end of this article, you will know which team was declared the champion, the final score, how many Americans watched the game, and what the drama was surrounding the halftime show.
At 12-4 for their 2019 season, Kansas City secured its spot in the Super Bowl LIV by defeating the Tennessee Titans, 35-24, in the AFC Championship Game. The Chiefs had previously played the Houston Texans and had a come-from-behind victory where they overcame a 24-point deficit.
The Chiefs’ strength is their offense led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, wide receiver Tyreek Hill, and tight end Travis Kelce. In 2018, Mahomes was responsible for throwing 50 touchdown passes and won the title of 2018 league MVP. With Mahomes as their starter, the Chiefs have never lost a game by more than seven points.
At 13-3 for their 2019 season, the San Francisco 49ers were the underdogs for the game even amidst ranking first in defense in the playoffs and second in the regular season. The 49ers are the third team in NFL history to make it to the Super Bowl game after winning four or fewer games the season before. In 2018, the 49ers wrapped up their season at 4-12.
The 49ers’ strength was their defense led by Nick Bosa, a rookie pass rusher, and Arik Armstead and DeForest Buckner. The trio has a combined 26.5 sacks for the 2019 season. The 49ers also led all NFL playoff teams in rushing yards for the 2019 regular season.
The 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has been two the Super Bowl twice before with the New England Patriots as Tom Brady’s backup; however, Super Bowl LIV was his first shot at his own victory.
The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers each brought their strengths to the Super Bowl LIV. The Chief’s offense and the 49ers defense proved to be an entertaining and thrilling game day experience.
The game began with San Francisco winning the coin toss but they deferred and so the Kansas City Chiefs kicked off the Super Bowl LIV.
First Half
By the end of the first quarter, the Chiefs were leading the 49ers 7-3.
At the very beginning of the second quarter, Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones forced 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo into a tough decision. Garoppolo misfired and the ball was ushered back into the Chief’s possession. This allowed Mahomes to throw a 28-yard pass to Sammy Watkins and the Chiefs were able to score a field goal.
It wasn’t looking for the 49ers with a score of 10-3; however, they were not easily discouraged. The 49ers’ defensive players were able to dominate the Chiefs and allow room for Garoppolo to complete three passes over 42 yards and score a touchdown. This evened the score to 10-10 at halftime.
Second Half
After halftime, the 49ers swiftly sought out to turn the game around in their favor and kicker Robbie Gould managed to bring the score to 13-10. Shortly thereafter, Garoppolo, along with running back Raheem Mostert scored a touchdown for the 49ers bringing the team to a 20-10 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The 49ers lead was short-lived; however, and in the fourth quarter quarterback Mahomes, wide receiver Tyreek Hill, and tight end Travis Kelce joined forces to close the gap and brought the score to 20-17. Mahomes then brought the Chiefs back down the field and went 5-for-5 for 60 yards on the drive. This led the Chiefs to a 24-20 advantage with a little less than 3 minutes left in the game.
The 49ers had already used all of their timeouts and so the Chiefs took advantage of the time and scored a 38-yard touchdown by Damien Williams.
The game ended with the final score being 31-20 Chiefs.
For every Super Bowl, there is a half time show. It can be debated that the halftime show sometimes actually draws more attention than the game itself. Throughout the years, halftime shows have occasionally brought with them a bit of controversy and the Super Bowl LIV halftime show was one of those shows.
Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation had signed on in August of 2019 to produce the halftime show. By the end of September 2019, Roc Nation had selected Shakira and Jennifer Lopez to headline the show. The decision was made as a way to reflect and honor the Latin culture of Miami, where the Super Bowl was played.
The halftime show took place at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The show itself was highly sexualized and was controversial because while some people thought that two women in their 40s and 50s dancing on a pole on-stage was incredibly impressive and endearing, others thought it was incredibly inappropriate. Aside from the dancing and costume choices, there were also a few political jabs like having children in what appeared to be cage-like structures.
The duo did bring out a Puerto Rican flag and incorporated a lot of Latin flavor into the show which was a beautiful fusion of an all-American sport with a Latin twist.
Super Bowl LIV had an average of 102 million viewers and aired on Fox. The Super Bowl’s viewing was up by nearly 2 million viewers from 2019.
There were 62,417 fans in attendance cheering on their respective teams. On average, the cost of a Super Bowl LIV ticket was $7,000 with some tickets selling for upwards of $60,000.
The Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LIV ring was made up of 255 diamonds and 36 rubies at 10.5 carats. The ring donned 16 custom-cut rubies to represent the chief’s 10 division titles under coach Andy Reid. Each ring is customized with each player’s name and jersey number and inside of the ring, there are the final scores of each of the playoff games from the 2019-2020 season.
The Super Bowl LIV was one for the books and very likely sealed Chiefs quarterback Mahomes’ role as “one to watch” in the years to come and was voted the NFL MVP 2020. Super Bowl LIV was a perfect victory for the Kansas City Chiefs to end their 50 year Super Bowl drought.