We are here again at the end of the NFL season, and the final game is between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Fransisco 49ers. Both teams have had “Purdy good” seasons (pun intended), but the fact that the Chiefs are back in the Super Bowl for the third time in four years is hard to believe. QB Patrick Mahomes has not had his best season, but somehow, he still finds a way to win in the playoffs and get back to the Super Bowl. On the other hand, Brock Purdy is new to the Super Bowl stage, but he has proven that he can handle being in the bright lights and playing his best when it matters most, as he showed last week in the NFC Championship game vs the Lions. 

To get to the Super Bowl, the Chiefs beat one of the best teams in the NFL (the Baltimore Ravens) which is already impressive enough. The Ravens statistically had the best defense by far in the NFL this year and they had MVP winner Lamar Jackson as the QB, so they were definitely no joke. The Chiefs have nowhere near a top offense, but Patrick Mahomes always seems to pull off some magic in the playoffs, win a few games, and make it to the Super Bowl. For the Chiefs to win this game, they need to show up defensively the same way they have all season. Mahomes knows what he has to do on offense, and he will get it done, but the Chiefs winning this game depends on how well the defense plays versus the high-powered 49ers offense. 

The 49ers, led by “Mr. Irrelevant” (Brock Purdy), are back in the Super Bowl for the first time since they lost to the Chiefs in 2020. Although both are different teams, the 49ers’s archetype is very similar to that of the 2020 team. They have a high-powered defense and an amazing, explosive offense with TE George Kittle, RB, and Offensive Player of the Year candidate Christian McCaffery. The 49ers also beat the steaming-hot Green Bay Packers in the playoffs, and they also defeated the upstart Detroit Lions, who also had all the momentum in the world, so the Niners’ last few wins have been very impressive. I think, on paper, the 49ers are a much better team and beat out the Chiefs at most positions, but I think that the Chiefs have better coaching, more momentum heading into this game, and a better QB leading the team, influencing me to believe that the Chiefs will win this game, 31-28.