Recap / Super Bowl LI to LXXV

Super Bowl Recaps
I-XXV | XXVI-50 | LI-LXXV

Super Bowls LI to LV

LI — February 5, 2017 / NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas / New England Patriots def. Atlanta Falcons, 34-28 (OT)

MVP: Tom Brady, QB
Network/Announcers: Fox (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Luke Bryan / Renée Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo, and Jasmine Cephas Jones
Coin Toss: George H.W. and Barbara Bush, 41st US President and First Lady^note On a sadder note, this was among the last public appearances for both Bushes before their deaths within months of each other in 2018.
Halftime: Lady Gaga

• Ranked the #9 Greatest Game in NFL history by NFL Films for the league's 100th anniversary and the fourth highest-ranked Super Bowl on that list.^note While all such lists are, of course, subjective, this one's relatively low placement was immediately subject to fan backlash. Julian Edelman's juggling desperation catch centimeters from the turf was named the #22 Greatest Play, and the Pats the #21 Greatest Team. Ranked the 3rd best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• Let's not bury the lede: First Super Bowl to go into overtime, as New England overcame a 28-3 third quarter deficit to put the game into OT, making it the largest comeback in Super Bowl history (no other team has ever recovered from more than a 10-point deficit, let alone won despite never holding a lead through the entire game). More than 30 records were broken or tied in this game.
• The Falcons reached their second Super Bowl, with QB Matt Ryan winning league MVP for leading the league in most passing statistics. Unlike their last appearance, one of the most unexpected Cinderella runs in league history, the Falcons had been pretty consistent winners under Ryan and record-shattering receiver Julio Jones for the past several years. Though they boasted the league's #1 offense, their defense ranked fairly low in many categories despite having the defensive-minded Dan Quinn at HC. They still went 11-5 and easily handled the Seahawks and Packers in the playoffs, giving a fitting sendoff to the Georgia Dome in the last game they'd play there before their new stadium opened the next season. Those interested in an extensive (and Falcons-centered) recap of what made this game so unique and heart-breaking for the Falcons will enjoy Jon Bois and Secret Base's 90-minute finale to their multi-part history of the franchise leading up to 2021.
• This was the ninth overall Super Bowl appearance for the Patriots, the most of any team outright, and the record seventh appearance for both QB Tom Brady (the now-oldest QB to play in the Big Game) and HC Bill Belichick (also making a record tenth overall appearance). As they had for years at this point, the Pats dominated, sporting the league's #1 defense and a powerful offense that earned a 14-2 record, good for the #1 seed. That record came in spite of Brady being suspended for the first four games of the season due to the Deflategate controversy. The Pats handled the Texans and Steelers in the playoffs and were three-point favorites to win.
• First time in the standardized logo era where said logo is colorized, including the bar that says "Super Bowl",^note Not counting the golden 50 from the previous year, which still used a silver "Super Bowl" bar. and the lettering has been changed so now it appears alongside the Lombardi Trophy in a blockier font.^note Again, not counting the 50 from the previous year. The host stadium is no longer part of the logo, though. The bar color is red.
• While average viewer numbers for this Super Bowl were down slightly (111.32 million), the thrilling ending likely contributed to this having the highest total viewers of any Super Bowl ever at 172 million people.
• The first quarter went completely scoreless, but Atlanta gained momentum after CB Robert Alford recovering a New England fumble early in the second. After scoring two offensive touchdowns, Atlanta seemed to bury the Pats when Alford picked off Brady in the red zone and ran the ball back for a 82-yard pick-six, the second-longest in Super Bowl history besides James Harrison's iconic 100-yard play in XLIII. This was Brady's first pick-six in a Super Bowl, and to this point no QB who scored six points for the other team had won one. The Pats' measly field goal right before halftime to make the score 21-3 hardly seemed to make a difference, as no team had ever overcome such a massive deficit in the Big Game.
• Lady Gaga's halftime show began with her singing "God Bless America" and "This Land", seemingly with the intent of unifying the American TV audience in the wake of a rather contentious election. This being Gaga, of course, this medley was delivered from the roof of NRG Stadium, with a massive swarm of red, white, and blue drones lighting up the night sky behind her, and she ended it by jumping straight off the edge and descending on wires to the field below to finish her mashup of hits.
• The Falcons extended their lead with another TD in the third quarter, giving them their biggest lead of the game (the famous 28-3). While only two playoff teams had ever overcome a 25-point deficit, Atlanta appeared to have victory even more secured after New England managed to rally back to score a TD of their own; the normally dependable Stephen Gostkowski's PAT attempt bounced off the uprights, and a failed onside kick attempt to regain possession gave the Falcons excellent field position. Their offense moved within field goal range, but a holding penalty and a sack pushed their offense back and forced them to punt; had Atlanta elected to kick the ball and score three points, this game's outcome would have been very different. As it was, most computer simulations placed Atlanta's likelihood of victory at 99.8%.
• After spending the first 45 minutes of regulation time being thumped by Atlanta on both sides of the ball, New England threaded one of the toughest needles on the path to victory: no team in NFL playoff history had ever overcome such a substantial fourth quarter deficit. Their path to victory included Gostkowski redeeming himself with a field goal, a strip sack by Dont'a Hightower, an incredible diving catch just centimeters off the ground by Julian Edelman off a tip by Alford's foot, another sack/holding penalty combo pushing the Falcons out of FG range, and two consecutive New England TDs with successful 2-point conversions (the most in a Super Bowl, and also the only time the winning team scored no points from a PAT kick).
• The Herculaen efforts of both the Patriots' offense and defense were sufficient to tie the game with a minute left and keep the Falcons from scoring, but Atlanta fans will still remind you that the game's outcome, to some degree, was determined by luck. NFL OT rules at that time, even in the playoffs, were a modified form of sudden death: whoever won the coin flip to gain first possession only had to score a touchdown to win. As indicated by their collapse in the game's final quarter, Atlanta's defense was exhausted and unable to stop a stiff breeze. Had the league's #1 offense won the coin flip, the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history may have never happened, but the Falcons and their MVP never stepped back on the field after the coin toss went New England's way. The Pats marched right down the field and into history. This scenario notably cannot happen under current rules; since 2022, teams are allowed one chance to respond to an opposing offensive TD in the playoffs.
• Tom Brady, in his seventh appearance in the big game, completed 43 of 62 passes (a record) for 466 yards (also a record), 2 TDs, 1 INT, leading the Patriots to score 31 unanswered points. Despite his overall performance being fairly average in terms of efficiency (a 95.2 passer rating), he claimed game MVP for his record-breaking production and mastery of the fourth quarter, fully exorcising the demons of "Deflategate". This record-setting fifth Super Bowl win as a starting QB, all coming in such dramatic fashion, became the moment that media outlets and fans outside of New England began to ascribe the "Greatest of All Time" label to Brady, though he continued to add to his credentials in the following seasons.
  • However, Brady himself pointed out after the game that RB James White was the game's unsung hero. He scored 20 points for New England (a Super Bowl record), including a 2-pointer and the game-winning touchdown in overtime, and was the game's leading receiver at 110 yards with a Super Bowl record 14 receptions (with the team playing from behind for so long, he only ran the ball in short yardage situations).
  • Only adding to Atlanta's grief: Ryan had perhaps the best game of any losing QB in Super Bowl history, with his 144.1 passer rating^note 17/23, 284 yards, 2 TDs ranking as one of the best of any QB in the Big Game.
• "28-3" has haunted the Falcons ever since; while they made the playoffs the following year, the franchise has since fallen out of contention once again.
• While a Falcons dynasty was snuffed out before it even got a chance to start, the long-lived Patriots dynasty just kept rolling through another two straight trips to the Super Bowl.
• Following Brady's first 10-Minute Retirement, he produced and "starred" As Himself in a movie set at this game: 80 for Brady, a Chick Flick starring Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field, Based on a True Story of four older women seeking to see their sports idol. The film heavily relies on archival footage from the game and features cameos from Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, and Danny Amendola, though it goes thoroughly off the rails of reality when the characters storm the New England coordinators booth to give Brady a Rousing Speech to spark the comeback.

LII — February 4, 2018 / U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota / Philadelphia Eagles def. New England Patriots, 41-33

MVP: Nick Foles, QB
Network/Announcers: NBC (Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": P!nk / Leslie Odom Jr.
Coin Toss: Various Medal of Honor recipients with Hershel "Woody" Williams tossing the coin itself
Halftime: Justin Timberlake

• Ranked the #14 Greatest Game in NFL history by NFL Films for the league's 100th anniversary and the seventh highest-ranked Super Bowl on that list. The Philly Special trick play was ranked the #10 Greatest Play and the fifth best in a Super Bowl. The Eagles were the #36 Greatest Team. Ranked the 10th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• Another clash of #1 seeds, both with 13-3 records, though the Pats were favored by five points.
  • Philly made their third Super Bowl appearance (and first since the peak of the Andy Reid/Donovan McNabb era of the early 2000s) as underdogs despite having a young QB in Carson Wentz who was earning MVP votes. The reason for the low expectations? Wentz was knocked out by an ACL injury late in the season, leaving passing responsibilities to backup Nick Foles. However, the Eagles still boasted a great ground game and the league's #1 passing defense, and being from Philly, they leaned into the underdog narrative by having several players wear dog masks before and after games. Foles also played well in playoffs, narrowly beating the Falcons and blowing out the Vikings to become the first QB in nearly three decades to reach the Super Bowl after making three or fewer starts in the regular season. The team
  • The Pats dominated the Titans in the playoffs, then pulled of a nail-biting AFCCG comeback against the Jaguars. League MVP Tom Brady made his eighth Super Bowl appearance, the most for any individual player. Belichick extended his records for the most Super Bowl appearances as an HC (8) and in any capacity (11). The Patriots also broke the record for most Super Bowl appearances by a team, this being their tenth.
• Lots of History Repeats: For the second time in the Brady Era, the Patriots played their third Super Bowl in four years, with only a season gap between the first and second Super Bowls in said period.^note What's more, the Pats' two previous victories came against NFC West and NFC South teams. Additionally, the Super Bowl between the two previous appearances pitted an AFC West team against an NFC South team one, though this time the AFC team won. Even better, the Eagles, just like before in XXXIX, were the third team in the four-year period that the Pats had to face off (what's more, the Eagles faced the same two teams in the playoffs, in reverse order, on their way to the Super Bowl). This was the also the tenth year since New England's infamous 18-1 season, and once again the Patriots found themselves facing an NFC East team heavily considered an underdog for the title. Unlike before, NE already faced and defeated Tom Coughlin (now with the Jaguars). But, just like a decade before, the NFC East underdog won.
• Ratings (43.1) and average viewership (103.47 million) were down pretty notably from the past few seasons, likely due to a combo of the low expectations for how close the game would be (viewership was well over that average by the fourth quarter) and the expansion of streaming options.
• Both teams' offenses fought extremely hard for the Lombardi, combining for 1,152 yards, the most total yards in any NFL game ever. Although the total of 74 points is only the second highest combined score in Super Bowl history, it came extremely close (one point short of matching XXIX's 75) despite both teams combining for a Super Bowl record four missed PATs (each missed an extra point kick and the Eagles failed two 2-point conversions) and a missed field goal. The Patriots' final score of 33 points is the highest losing score in Super Bowl history. Perhaps the most striking stat for how aggressive this game was: It's the only Super Bowl with a single punt, as Philly only punted once in the second quarter and New England's punter never took the field.
• Shortly before halftime, Foles became the first quarterback to catch a touchdown pass in the Super Bowl when the Eagles used a trick play on 4th and goal to score by passing it to Foles, extending their lead to 22-12. This play became known as the Philly Special. Tom Brady almost caught a pass on a similar trick play earlier in the game, but dropped it.
• Yes, Timberlake performed the halftime show again fourteen years after the infamous Wardrobe Malfunction. No, Janet Jackson did not appear, and a lot of people were pissed that she wasn't even asked. A rumored *NSYNC reunion also did not happen, and there was also some questionable audio mixing in the show's intro. The show also featured a controversial tribute to Prince which was originally supposed to be a hologram before it was pointed out that Prince hated that kind of stuff in real life. Instead, Timberlake performed against a tarp with video of Prince projected onto it. However, the real star of that show was the "selfie kid" who managed to catch a selfie with Justin as he was performing "Can't Stop the Feeling!" and proceeded to become a meme.
• The Philly Special's lead proved crucial, as it forced the Pats to go all-out to narrow the gap. While New England pulled to a one-point lead early in the fourth quarter, Philly responded with a TD of their own in the game's final minutes that proved somewhat controversial- Pats fans to this day are likely to argue that TE Zach Ertz didn't secure the catch for the score. Still, those points ultimately proved unnecessary for the Eagles' victory. Despite missing their two-point conversion and placing the ball in Brady's hands for a game-winning drive, the Eagles' defense posted the only sack by either team all night, stripping and recovering the ball, setting up for a field goal and burning all of the Patriots' time-outs. Now with an eight-point lead, the Eagles broke up a Hail Mary attempt to tie the game and secured the win.
• Foles claimed game MVP with a stellar statline for any QB, let alone a backup.^note 28/43 completions, 373 yards, 4 TDs (three thrown, one caught), and one INT caused by a dropped pass, giving him a 106.1 passer rating.
• Outside of points (which they scored more of than any prior Super Bowl losing team), the Pats actually outpaced the Eagles in many metrics; their net yards on offense (613) and Brady's passing yards (505) are Super Bowl records, and three players (Danny Amendola, Chris Hogan, and Rob Gronkowski) put up over 100 receiving yards, the only time that has happened on a single team in the Super Bowl.
• This was the only NFC victory in the Super Bowl between the 2013 and 2020 seasons, the only period of time since the end of the NFC's dominant winning streak in the '80s and '90s when its representatives went for 1-for-6 in championships.
• This somewhat unexpected victory was not just the Eagles' first Super Bowl win, but the first national championship claimed by the long-running franchise since 1960. Philly sports fans, notorious as the closest thing to soccer hooligans in the United States, nearly burned down the city in celebration. However, the team was unable to replicate their success in this game, as many of their veterans aged out. Wentz, Foles, and even HC Doug Pederson would all be shipped out of town in just three years time.
• The Patriots' loss tied them with the Broncos for the most Super Bowl losses of any franchise, but their dynasty was not yet over, as they'd return to the Big Game one more time the following season.

LIII — February 3, 2019 / Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia / New England Patriots def. Los Angeles Rams, 13-3

MVP: Julian Edelman, WR
Network/Announcers: CBS (Jim Nantz, Tony Romo)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Gladys Knight / Chloe x Halle
Coin Toss: Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr.
Halftime: Maroon 5, with guests Travis Scott and Big Boi

• Ranked the 29th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• First Super Bowl between both #2 seeds, and the first since XLVII to not feature a #1 seed. For the third time, the Patriots face a rematch of a previous Super Bowl (XXXVI), taking place exactly 17 years later (though, unlike the last two, the Pats won this one).
  • The Patriots, Tom Brady, and Bill Belichick extend their appearance records, this being the eleventh Super Bowl appearance for the team, the ninth for Brady, and the twelfth for Belichick. This iteration was named the #79 Greatest Team in the league's first century. This was perhaps the most enigmatic of the Patriots' nine Super Bowl teams. Their 11-5 record, while their worst in a decade, was deceptive and belied the talent which still remained. The Patriots beat every single team on their schedule to later reach the postseason, while their five losses, including the now-infamous Miracle in Miami, were to teams which failed to qualify. The Pats easily handled the Chargers in the divisional round before pulling off a thrilling OT victory in the AFC Championship against Patrick Mahomes' Chiefs, using a run-heavy attack to keep the ball out of league MVP Patrick Mahomes' hands as long as possible, setting a playoff record by holding the ball for nearly 44 minutes and shutting out the Chiefs in the first half. The Chiefs managed to tie the game with mere seconds to spare in an explosive fourth quarter, but the Patriots won the coin toss and scored the game-winning TD with a slow but inexorable march against an exhausted KC defense. This win caused a great deal of consternation among many non-Pats fans, as the league's OT rules once again kept the ball out of the hands of the Patriots' MVP opponent on the game's final drive. Only adding to the disappointment of fans and media was that Kansas City's loss prevented a rematch of the regular season's most thrilling game, a high-scoring primetime match between the best offenses in the league.
  • Said offense was in the process of guiding one of the greatest turnarounds in NFL history. Following the Rams' last Super Bowl defeat at the hands of Belichick and Brady, the St. Louis team quickly fell off, becoming one of the worst in the league for a better part of a decade. This constant failure, combined with new ownership and the NFL's desire to finally get a team back in the country's #2 media market after a two-decade absence, opened a window for the Rams to move back to Los Angeles. Once there, the hiring of the youngest head coach of the Super Bowl era, 30-year-old Sean McVay, combined with the emergence of all-time elite DT Aaron Donald and some promising play from QB Jared Goff, resulted in an immediate revival. Now in McVay's second season and with Donald securing his second-straight Defensive Player of the Year honors, the team went 13-3. However, their appearance in this Super Bowl was met with even more criticism than that Pats'; after beating the Cowboys in the divisional round, the Rams secured an OT win over the Saints in the NFC Championship thanks to the refs missing an obvious pass-interference on what could have been New Orleans' game-winning score. The narrative that neither team "truly" deserved to be in this game would hang over it, particularly once the final score came in.
• McVay became the youngest head coach (aged 33 years, 10 days) to reach the Super Bowl. On the flip side, Belichick and Brady both became the then-oldest respective head coach and quarterback^note both as starting player and overall for Brady to win the Super Bowl (Belichick aged 66 years, 293 days, over twice McVay's age; Brady aged 41 years, 183 days).
• The third Super Bowl to be held in Atlanta and the first in nearly two decades. Coincidentally, the last Super Bowl in Atlanta (XXXIV) featured the Rams when they were based in St. Louis at the time.
• Los Angeles' return to the Super Bowl after over three decades couldn't have come against a better team; not only is there a long and storied NBA rivalry between the L.A. and Boston markets, the Red Sox had just defeated the Dodgers in the World Series a few months prior (the first time the same markets faced off in that close a sequence across football and baseball).
• Average viewership dipped under 100 million for the first time in a decade, potentially from fatigue over the Patriots' constant appearances and wins (they were favored by 2.5 here), the aforementioned disappointment with how both teams arrived, the Rams' less established fanbase, disinterest in the halftime performers (more on that later), or simply the expansion of alternative viewing options.
• First Super Bowl with Tony Romo in the booth.
• An old-school defensive game, the first Super Bowl where no touchdowns were scored in the first three quarters. The Pats scored just 3 points in the first half after missing another field goal attempt and a Brady pass was deflected and intercepted. The Rams were shut out completely in the worst performance ever seen by McVay's offense.
• This year's halftime show was extremely controversial for a variety of reasons beyond the scope of this page. As for the music itself, Maroon 5's performance was received poorly by critics and viewers, despite a cameo from SpongeBob SquarePants (honoring the recent passing of creator Stephen Hillenberg), Travis Scott landing on the stage in an asteroid before Crowd Surfing away, and Big Boi cruising onstage in a car.
• The score sat at 3-3 by the end of the third quarter after the Rams scored a 52-yard FG. The Patriots scored the game's only TD about halfway through the fourth, picked off Goff, and extended their lead with another field goal with 72 seconds left. The Rams missed a subsequent FG attempt, and New England kneeled out the clock.
• The two teams' combined score of 16 wound up being the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever, with the Patriots getting the lowest score by a Super Bowl-winning team at 13 and the Rams tying the lowest score for a Super Bowl-losing team at 3. The low point total comfortably broke the lowest-score record held by VII for 46 years (14-7 when the Dolphins capped their perfect season by beating the Redskins) and the fewest touchdown count with just the one; the 2018 Rams earned the dubious honor of being the first team since the Dolphins 47 years prior in VI to fail to score at least one TD in the Big Game, while the Pats were the first team since Joe Namath's Jets in III to win with just one. Ironically, given the reputation of this game for anemic offense, the 10 point lead was the largest margin of victory among New England's Super Bowl wins. LIII was also the only one of their eleven appearances where the Patriots never trailed at any point in regulation. In one final odd coincidence, the Patriots set the record for lowest point total by the winner one year after setting the record for the most points scored by the loser.
• The Patriots tie the Steelers' record of six Super Bowl wins, getting all six of them with Brady and Belichick, both of whom claimed the record for most Super Bowls won as player and head coach, respectively. Belichick also won the most Super Bowls both as a coach in any capacity at eight and has the most appearances of anyone in any capacity with twelve.
• Despite holding the league's top scoring offense to a single field goal and keeping them out of the red zone the whole game, no member of the Patriots defense received a vote for Super Bowl MVP. With both QBs turning in poor performances with no TDs and an INT apiece, one may have expected the award to go to the only player to score a TD, New England's rookie RB Sony Michel. Instead, it went to WR Julien Edelman, who led the game in yards (149 from scrimmage) and set up said TD.
  • Patriots left guard Joe Thuney set a record of his own, becoming the first player to start in a Super Bowl in each of his first three years in the league. During the game, the Patriots o-line's efficient containment of Donald, with Thuney's several one-on-one blocks in particular, were cited as key elements of the Pats' victory.
  • Due to the offense's impotence, Rams' punter Johnny Hekker saw a lot of time on the field; a Super Bowl record eight straight Rams drives ended in a punt. For his part, Hekker put up the longest punt in Super Bowl history (65 yards).
• Goff's ineffective performance in this game led many to believe the Rams were one QB away from being able to win the Big Game. In 2021, after a few more playoff failures, the Rams front office concurred, traded Goff away, and immediately won a Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Goff would go on to revitalize the team he was traded to, the Detroit Lions, and brought them one game shy of their first Super Bowl in 2023.
• This wound up being the last Brady-Belichick Super Bowl, as Brady left the Patriots and signed with the Buccaneers after the next season; it likewise was TE Rob Gronkowski's last game in a Patriots uniform. Relatedly, given that the Bucs are an NFC team, this campaign featured Brady's eleventh and last AFC Championship game. Without Brady under center, the Pats would regress back to the bottom half of the league's standings, leading to Belichick's own departure from the team after the 2023 season.

LIV — February 2, 2020 / Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida / Kansas City Chiefs def. San Francisco 49ers, 31-20

MVP: Patrick Mahomes, QB
Network/Announcers: Fox (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful": Demi Lovato / Yolanda Adams
Coin Toss: Odón Sanchez Cardenas, Samuel Lombardo, Charles E. McGee, and Sidney Walton, four centenarian World War II veterans, with McGee tossing the coin itself
Halftime: Jennifer Lopez and Shakira,^note Shakira performed first, but J. Lo got first billing with guest appearances by J Balvin, Bad Bunny, and Emme Muñiz (Lopez's daughter)

• Ranked the 16th best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• The bar color in the logo is teal. Also, the letters are made sleeker than the logos of the past three Super Bowls and they (along with the Lombardi Trophy) have gold accents to indicate that it's the fiftieth NFL championship game after the AFL-NFL merger and the capper for the NFL's 100th season.
• This was the eleventh Super Bowl to be played in the Miami metropolitan area, currently the most of any host location. This was also the sixth Super Bowl to be played at Hard Rock Stadium.
• Sometimes called "the Joe Montana Bowl", as the legendary QB had played for both teams during his career in the '80s and '90s.
• This was the third Super Bowl since 2001 to not feature Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, or Peyton Manning as the AFC team's starting quarterback^note the previous ones being Rich Gannon of the Raiders in XXXVII and Joe Flacco of the Ravens in XLVIII.
• This was the first Super Bowl appearance and victory by the Chiefs in 50 years; their last appearance and victory was IV in 1970, the final Super Bowl before the merger. The franchise had often struggled in that half century and had reached historic lows shortly before the arrival of veteran coach Andy Reid in 2013. Reid turned the Chiefs into consistent winners practically overnight, and the arrival of wunderkind MVP QB Patrick Mahomes in 2018 took them to the doorstep of the Super Bowl. In 2019, they sealed the deal, starting with posting a 12-4 record in the regular season. In the playoffs, the Chiefs pulled off two highly impressive comebacks, first overcoming an early 24-point deficit against the Texans to ultimately blow the other team away, then by shutting down the Titans' dominant RB Derrick Henry in the AFCCG. Despite boasting a rather weak overall run defense (the Niners had the #2 run offense), relying on Mahomes' arm for much of their offensive production (the Niners had the #1 pass defense), and needing to overcome deficits throughout the playoffs, KC was still narrowly favored by 1.5 points due to Reid's experience and Mahomes' high ceiling.
• The 49ers had struggled in the post-Harbaugh years but somewhat unexpectedly surged back to championship contention, becoming the third team in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl after winning only four games in their previous season (after the '88 Bengals and the '99 Rams). Head coach Kyle Shanahan joined his father Mike (HC of the Broncos during their late '90s championships) to become the first father-son duo to both reach a Super Bowl as HC. He did so by shaping a dominant run game, with QB Jimmy Garoppolo mainly serving as a game manager. Their defense was similarly formidable, with Defensive Rookie of the Year DE Nick Bosa. SF stormed through the playoffs, dominating the Vikings and the Packers. However, the nature of the latter win in the NFCCG raised some questions, as Garoppolo only threw the ball eight times the entire game.
  • There are a number of similarities between the 49ers teams from Super Bowls XXIX and LIV: a 13-3 record, #1 seed in the NFC, NFC West winners, an anniversary season for the NFL (75th season and 100th season, respectively), a Shanahan as a coach, playing in Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, facing an AFC West team (Chargers/Chiefs) that made two comeback wins in order to make it to this point. However, unlike XXIX, the 49ers lost.
• Average viewership (101.32 million) and ratings (41.6) were up slightly from last year, while total viewership was slightly down (148.5).
• Last Fox-broadcasted Super Bowl to feature Joe Buck and Troy Aikman in the booth, as the duo moved to ESPN starting with the 2022 NFL season.
• Prior to the game, both teams stood on their respective 24 yard lines to honor the recent death of NBA star Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash.
• The first half was a fairly intense back-and-forth affair, with both teams scoring a TD and FG respectively to leave the score tied 10-10 at halftime.
• The halftime show featured a double billing of two of the most successful Latina artists of the 21st century, a wide array of dancers and costumes, some contemporary guests, Shakira Crowd Surfing and performing a zaghrouta to the camera, JLo pole-dancing. It played well as a tribute to Miami's Latin culture and was a massive ratings hit around the world. After the show, there was some backlash from Moral Guardians regarding the sexuality of the show and of a segment in which JLo (wearing a feathered cape with both the American and Puerto Rican flag) sang "Born in the U.S.A." with a children's choir trapped in cages, a seeming political protest against U.S. immigration policies. The show would be extensively featured in a 2022 Netflix documentary about this part of Lopez's career entitled Halftime, in which she expressed frustration with having to share the stage with another artist.
• Three years after serving as the Falcons' offensive coordinator during the "28-3" fiasco, Shanahan once again blows a double-digit lead during the final quarter of the Super Bowl. Here, at least, it was only 10 points instead of 25, as the Niners scored a FG and TD in the third quarter while picking off Mahomes twice. However, the Chiefs tied the Cowboys' Super Bowl XXVII record 21 fourth-quarter points with yet another Miracle Rally finish. Garoppolo missed a few key throws and threw a game-sealing INT.
• Chiefs head coach Andy Reid finally shed the Every Year They Fizzle Out label by winning his first Super Bowl during his second such attempt. He also became the seventh head coach to guide two different teams to the Super Bowl, previously guiding the Eagles to a Super Bowl XXXIX loss.
• Patrick Mahomes broke the infamous Madden Curse, since he was the cover star of Madden NFL 20, the game developed for the 2019–20 season. Although Mahomes was injured during the season and posted poor numbers by his usual standards^note 26/42 completions, 286 passing yards, 2 TDs-2INTs, 78.1 passer rating, 29 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD, he put up the necessary plays for the team to win and earned Super Bowl MVP, becoming the youngest player to do so at just 24 years old. Chiefs RB Damien Williams and WR Tyreek Hill both posted 100+ yards.
• The Chiefs bizarrely may have inadvertently saved hundreds of lives by winning. The game occurred just as the COVID-19 Pandemic was starting to hit San Francisco. Had the 49ers won the game, the resulting celebrations in San Francisco would've very likely caused the city become a massive hotspot for COVID-19. The disease hadn't yet spread to Kansas City at the time, meaning the celebrations there didn't pose the same health risk.
• The Chiefs remained one of the league's strongest teams and would return to the Big Game the following year, to different results.
• The Niners suffered a steep slump in the following season after a rash of injuries (and other issues), but they'd soon bounce back and eventually return to the Super Bowl with most of the same star players to once again face off with the Chiefs in LVIII; see more below.

LV — February 7, 2021 / Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida / Tampa Bay Buccaneers def. Kansas City Chiefs, 31-9

MVP: Tom Brady, QB
Network/Announcers: CBS (Jim Nantz, Tony Romo)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful"/"Lift Every Voice and Sing": Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church / H.E.R. / Alicia Keys
Coin Toss: Suzie Dorner, ICU nurse, representing frontline medical workers in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Halftime: The Weeknd

• Ranked the 42nd best Super Bowl by NFL Throwback in 2022.
• The bar color in the logo is orange, and the trophy and letters, the latter of which are made thicker this time (but still lack the blocky serifs) and now have textures, have blue accents. If you look closely, the letters also have the faint reflection of an ocean wave.
• This Super Bowl was a rematch of the Week 12 matchup between the Chiefs and Bucs at Raymond James Stadium. In the regular season, the Chiefs resisted a fourth quarter comeback by the Bucs, edging them 27-24. This Super Bowl also featured the largest age gap between starting quarterbacks in the Big Game, with Tom Brady 18 years, 1 month, and 4 days older than Patrick Mahomes; when Brady made his first Super Bowl appearance aged 24 in 2002, Mahomes was in kindergarten. In the leadup to the game, this matchup was expected to be like if Michael Jordan was competing against LeBron James, age difference intact.
  • The Buccaneers were the first wild card team to reach the Super Bowl since the 2010 Packers and the first without a first-round bye since the 2012 Ravens. After a slow start to the season as Brady adapted to his new surroundings, Tampa Bay's offense heated up in the back stretch. As the #5 seed with an 11-5 record, they had to play their entire playoff schedule on the road to reach the Super Bowl, besting Washington, New Orleans, and Green Bay on the way to get back to their own home stadium. In doing so, they became the third team to play in a Super Bowl within their home market and the first to play in their home stadium, properly breaking the "Super Bowl host curse"; the '79 Rams and the '84 49ers played in other venues within their metropolitan areas during their respective "home game" Super Bowls.^note This Super Bowl was originally scheduled to take place at the new SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, Tampa and L.A. switched games due to construction delays that pushed opening from 2019 to 2020, since the NFL no longer allows new stadiums to host the Super Bowl during their first year of operation. Despite playing in their home stadium, the Bucs were not allowed to use their stadium's usual traditions, namely firing the cannons from the pirate ship for big moments, in order to maintain some of the integrity of a neutral site game; pre-recorded cannon fire sounds were used only for the Bucs' introductions and when they won. Also, the Bucs' "home team" designation came by virtue of being the NFC's turn in the "home team" designation rotation and not by being the host team.
  • The Chiefs remained the league's most dominant team coming off of last year's Super Bowl win, leading the league in record (14-2) and offensive production, and they were favored to win by 3. However, their o-line had been decimated over the course of the season; particularly, two main starters, Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher, suffered injuries during the playoff matches against the Browns and Bills,^* Starting before the season, starting guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who has an MD (but isn't yet a licensed doctor), opted out for the year and returned to his hometown of Montreal to serve as an orderly in a nursing home during the height of the pandemic. and their star QB was likewise recovering from a concussion and nursing a painful turf toe injury.
• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL restricted Raymond James Stadium's occupancy to 20% for the game. As a result, this was the least-attended Super Bowl in history. (The majority of the season's games were played in completely empty stadiums, with the host Buccaneers only beginning to allow limited fans starting in Week 6.) Empty seats were filled with cardboard cutouts of various NFL fans who paid the League to have pictures of themselves in those seats,^note there were also a few sponsor characters such as Bud Light's Bud Knight while the lower decks were covered with LED video boards to separate the fans from the teams on the field. Not that it stopped a wannabe streaker^note emphasis on "wannabe" because the guy tried but failed to pull down his shorts from rushing the field in the fourth quarter and giving radio broadcaster Kevin Harlan a ball of a time calling his run. ("Put up your pants, my man! Pull up those pants!")
• Ratings (38.2) and viewership (average 98.2 million) were down again from the previous year; this marked the lowest ratings for a Super Bowl since III but was still well ahead of the rest of the year's TV programming, another sign of the diminishing draw of television in the age of streaming.
• First Super Bowl to have a female official with down judge Sarah Thomas. The Bucs were also the first Super Bowl-winning team to have female coaches on their staff.
• The pregame flyover had three different Air Force bombers show up; a B-1 (Lancer), a B-2 (Spirit), and a B-52 (Stratofortress). Now add those numbers up.
• First Super Bowl to feature a pregame performance of "Lift Every Voice and Sing", a hymn often referred to as the "Black national anthem", as a tacit sign of support for the Black Lives Matter Movement following the murder of George Floyd a few months prior.
• Just like their previous Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl XXXVII, the Buccaneers faced the AFC West winner and top-seeded AFC team (Oakland Raiders/Kansas City Chiefs). And just like with how the Seahawks won XLVIII only to lose as defending champions to Brady's team (the Patriots) the following year, the Chiefs won LIV only to lose as defending champions to Brady's team (the Buccaneers) the following year.
• Kansas City just could not break through Tampa Bay's defense to reach the end zone; all three of their scoring runs ended in field goals. They did get the first score of the game, but once Brady got his first of two TD passes to tight end Rob Gronkowski (who came out of retirement to join Brady again in the past season), it was all downhill from there, with the Bucs leading 21-6 at halftime and only further expanding that lead in the second half.
  • Not only did Tampa Bay dismantle the Kansas City offense, but KC kept getting penalty after costly penalty, notching a record eight in the first half, many on the Bucs' third downs and one during a field goal attempt. These cost them 95 yards and extended many Bucs' drives into touchdowns. In total, KC received eleven penalties for 120 yards, most of which were called against their defense, and gave the Bucs a Super Bowl record six first downs.
• With audience capacity reduced, this year's halftime show stage was partially located in the stands and featured several sequences of The Weeknd staggering around in enclosed spaces (resulting in the night's biggest Memetic Mutation).
• This marked the first game of Mahomes' professional career in which he lost by more than one score or failed to score a TD. Most observers attributed it more to Mahomes constantly running for his life behind the decimated o-line, as he made numerous impressive plays despite a poor statline.^note 26/49, 270 passing and 33 rushing yards, 0 TD-2 INTs, 52.3 passer rating
• After 46 years between Super Bowls where one team failed to score a touchdown, it happened for the second time in three years. Unlike the Dolphins and Rams, the Chiefs at least scored more than once.
• Brady won his fifth Super Bowl MVP, one of many landmark records set by his historic victory, his first without the Patriots or head coach Bill Belichick. This was also his tenth Super Bowl appearance, his seventh Super Bowl victory, and his first of either on a wild card team. He also extended his existing record of being the oldest QB and oldest player to play and win the Super Bowl at 43 years, 188 days. Brady joined Peyton Manning as only the second QB to lead two different teams to Super Bowl victory, and he joined Otto Graham as only the second QB to win seven league titles in pro football.^note During the playoffs, the Bucs' Divisional Round game against the Saints had the oldest QB matchup in NFL history, with Tom Brady and Drew Brees having a combined age of over 85 years (Brady 43 years, 167 days and Brees 42 years, 2 days); that game would ultimately be Brees' last, as he retired shortly afterwards.
• Bruce Arians surpassed Belichick to become the oldest coach to win a Super Bowl (68 years, 127 days); he retired after the following season.
• Kicker Ryan Succop became the first Mr. Irrelevant to play in, score in, and win a Super Bowl; ironically against the same Chiefs team who drafted him in 2009.
• When Tampa held its post-Super Bowl boat parade (ah, the benefits of being a coastal Florida city...), Brady tossed the Vince Lombardi Trophy to tight end Cameron Brate boat to boat over the water.
• The iteration of Madden NFL released after this Super Bowl (Madden NFL 22) featured both Mahomes and Brady on the cover, the first time that both starting quarterbacks of a recent Super Bowl shared a cover (with both men having been on previous games' covers, no less).
• Both teams remained competitive in the following season but lost to the eventual Super Bowl candidates. However, while the Buccaneers fell off hard the following year, leading to Brady's retirement, the Chiefs would bounce right back to continue to build their case as the heirs to the Patriot dynasty.

Super Bowls LVI to LVIII

LVI — February 13, 2022 / SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California / Los Angeles Rams def. Cincinnati Bengals, 23–20

MVP: Cooper Kupp, WR
Network/Announcers: NBC (Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful"/"Lift Every Voice and Sing": Mickey Guyton / Jhené Aiko / Mary Mary
Coin Toss: Billie Jean King, retired world No. 1 tennis player and social activist
Halftime: Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Snoop Dogg with 50 Cent, Anderson .Paak, Sean Forbes, and Warren "WAWA" Snipe

• This was the first Super Bowl to be played on the second Sunday in February, following the introduction of a 17-game regular season schedule. Super Bowls XXXVII-LV were played on the first Sunday of February.
• The logo dropped the bar colors, changed the typeface for "SUPER BOWL", and brought back some creativity again with warm sunset colors and palm trees accentuating the Roman numerals and the Vince Lombardi Trophy crossing through them. Some people felt pretty unnerved by the choice of colors, though. ^note Some people thought the logo looked like it was drenched in blood.
• This was the eighth Super Bowl hosted in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and the first in nearly three decades. The last Super Bowl to be hosted in the Los Angeles area was XXVII at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena in 1993 due to a last-minute change; by the end of the next season, Los Angeles wouldn't even have an NFL franchise, a situation that lasted for the next two decades. This was also the second Super Bowl to be hosted by two teams, the Rams and the Chargers.
  • Similarly, with the Rams' victory, this was the first Lombardi Trophy for Los Angeles in nearly four decades, when the then-Los Angeles Raiders won Super Bowl XVIII in 1984.
• This was the first Super Bowl have a Spanish broadcast on an over-the-air television network in the United States, as Telemundo aired the game (Previous years' Super Bowls in which NBC held the rights aired in Spanish on cable channel NBC Universo/Mun2).
• It took until the 55th Super Bowl for a team that plays in the host stadium to both reach and win the Big Game when the Buccaneers played in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. It took just one year for the second game in history to feature this with the Rams in SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. If not for a construction delay at SoFi that forced the two venues to switch their dates, the wait for a "true" Super Bowl home game would still be ongoing. The Rams were designated as the "away team" due to the AFC receiving "home team" designation in even-numbered Super Bowls, and like the Bucs in the previous year, the Rams were not allowed to use their stadium's usual home traditions during the Big Game to maintain the integrity of a neutral site; however, unlike the Bucs who had to play their entire conference playoff slate on the road, the Rams got two home playoff games out of three. Compounding this, the NFL counted it as the Los Angeles Chargers' venue being used for the game, as they share SoFi Stadium with the Rams.^note In another coincidence, both "home" teams wore road white jerseys, albeit for different reasons. The Buccaneers won three road games in road whites to reach the Super Bowl and decided to stick with white for the Championship, a popular move for wild card teams with the home designation, especially after the Steelers made that move for Super Bowl XL and won. In the case of the Rams, the Bengals were the home team and chose to wear their black jerseys, forcing the Rams into white. The Rams went with a white color scheme they last wore in XXXIV, the franchise's only Super Bowl win prior to this game.
  • This was the Rams' second Super Bowl in their home market after Super Bowl XIV, which was played in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
• For the first time in Super Bowl history, the game did not feature either conference’s #1 or #2 seed. Los Angeles and Cincinnati claimed the #4 seeds in their respective conferences.
  • The Bengals reached the Super Bowl after experiencing one of the most dramatic turnaround seasons in NFL history. After enduring nearly three decades without winning a playoff game and several years as one of the league's worst teams, 2020 #1 pick and Comeback Player of the Year QB Joe Burrow, Offensive Rookie of the Year WR Ja'Marr Chase, HC Zac Taylor, and a host of other young stars revived the franchise's prospects, leading the Bengals to a 10-7 record and narrow playoff victories against the Raiders, Titans, and Chiefs (spoiling the heavily favored Chiefs' attempt at their third straight Super Bowl appearance with an impressive comeback from a 21-3 deficit).
  • Following their Super Bowl loss a few years prior, coach Sean McVay's Rams had remained competitive but come up short of returning to the Big Game. After another playoff elimination the year prior, the Rams decided to trade their former #1 pick, starting QB Jared Goff, and numerous other draft picks to the long-struggling Detroit Lions in order to attain their veteran starter, Matthew Stafford. The trade, combined with subsequent mid-season acquisitions of other veteran talents like Odell Beckham Jr. and Von Miller, immediately paid dividends; the Rams went 12-5 and defeated the Cardinals, Buccaneers, and 49ers in the postseason. Throughout this run, WR Cooper Kupp broke out as one of the season's biggest stars; entering the Super Bowl, he had claimed Offensive Player of the Year after already surpassing the record for most receiving yards in a combined regular and post-season with one more game left to play. Their experience and the home-field advantage made the Rams the betting favorite by 4 points.
• The youngest head coaching match-up in Super Bowl history; McVay was 36 and Taylor (a former McVay assistant in his last Super Bowl) was 38.
  • Rams Tackle Andrew Whitworth, at age 40, became the first player in a Super Bowl to be older than both head coaches. Adding onto this, Whitworth was awarded the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award before the game, and he retired after the game.^note Typically, the patch recognizing the Man of the Year honor is issued in the offseason, but the NFL made an exception due to the assumption that he would retire.
• Ratings declined even more for this Super Bowl (36.9), but average viewership (101.2 million) and household share (72) both were a marked improvement.
• This was the second Super Bowl after Super Bowl 50 to feature two starting quarterbacks who were the first overall selections in the NFL Draft. In this case; Matthew Stafford from 2009 and Joe Burrow from 2020.
• The game turned out to be a close-fought nail-biter. After pulling out to an early lead of 13-10, the Rams lost OBJ to a knee injury shortly before the half, greatly weakening an already depleted receiver group.
• To celebrate the Super Bowl's return to Los Angeles, the NFL partnered with Compton native Dr. Dre to assemble a super-team of Hip-Hop legends for the halftime show. This marked the first time that the Super Bowl has featured rap artists as the headliners since the Black Eyed Peas' widely-reviled performance a decade prior; since the Peas were also a heavily pop-leaning act, this arguably marked the first time the Super Bowl has truly featured America's most popular music genre. The show itself earned wide acclaim for its production, which included an elaborate two-level stage styled like a Compton neighborhood.
  • During his surprise guest appearance, 50 Cent began performing his song "In da Club" hanging upside-down from the ceiling of one of the set pieces, replicating the song's music video.
• A disastrous series to start the second half saw the Rams surrender a long TD to Tee Higgins (after he pulled an uncalled face-mask grab against corner Jalen Ramsey) on the first play from scrimmage. They then immediately gave the ball back to the Bengals on their next play after a dropped catch by rookie Ben Skowronek turned into an INT, who converted it into another field goal.
• However, the Rams defense clamped down, and Burrow took a Super Bowl record-tying seven sacks, five in the third quarter alone and one of which sprained his MCL and greatly impeded his mobility. Late in the fourth quarter, after scoring a field goal, Stafford assembled a solid drive, managing to get the ball to an often double-covered Kupp (including once with an impressive no-look pass) enough to pull ahead with a touchdown.^note This catch came after Kupp had already hauled in a catch in the end zone and gotten drilled in the head by a Bengals defender, only for it to get called back due to a Rams penalty. Star DT Aaron Donald clamped down on Burrow on the subsequent drive, preventing the Bengals from getting down to a game-tying FG range and ending the game.
  • The Rams' game-winning drive attracted a good amount of criticism during and after the game, as the officials (who had otherwise largely kept their flags in their pockets for most of the game) gave L.A. multiple friendly pass-interference and holding calls that gave the Rams three straight first-and-goal opportunities, essentially giving them a potential 12 chances to get the ball into the end zone and secure a home team win. However, even most Bengals fans had to concede that their team was only in the position to defend the lead because of the official's generous oversight of Higgins' facemask grab.
• McVay became the youngest head coach to win the Super Bowl. Despite the Rams having the worst ground offense of any Super Bowl winner at just 1.9 yards per carry, Kupp's two touchdowns made up for it; with so much of the passing game going through him, he was named Super Bowl MVP (though Higgins matched or exceeded most of his stats on the losing side). Stafford's two interceptions^note albeit one more of a desperation arm punt right before the half and the other being due to a dropped catch and heavy reliance on Kupp after OBJ's departure hurt his chances for the award, though earning a ring after over a decade in Detroit probably sweetened the deal.
• For the third time, the Bengals fell to a California-based NFC West team by less than a touchdown in the Super Bowl. In the Bengals' first two Super Bowl trips, they fell against the 49ers.
• This would later mark the first time a sports owner had two of his teams win championships the same year, as Rams owner Stan Kroenke also owns the Colorado Avalanche, who would go on to win The Stanley Cup that year.
• This would be Al Michaels' final game called on NBC before moving over to a new deal on Thursday Night Football for Amazon Prime with Kirk Herbstreit.
• The Rams' teambuilding method of emphasizing trades and free agency over drafting worked to win them a Super Bowl, but it quickly came into question when the Rams experienced the steepest championship hangover of the Super Bowl era the next season; their veteran talent was riddled with injuries and general regression and the team posted the first losing record of the McVay era.
• The Bengals, on the other hand, have so far remained one of the AFC's stronger teams, returning to the next AFCCG, and that was as far as they would advance as they would lose to the same Chiefs team the Bengals had beaten to get to the Super Bowl the year before.

LVII — February 12, 2023 / State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona / Kansas City Chiefs def. Philadelphia Eagles, 38–35

MVP: Patrick Mahomes, QB
Network/Announcers: Fox (Kevin Burkhardt, Greg Olsen)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful"/"Lift Every Voice and Sing": Chris Stapleton^note with Troy Kotsur performing ASL / Babyface / Sheryl Lee Ralph
Coin Toss: Pat Tillman Foundation scholar Fabersha Flynt
Halftime: Rihanna

• This game's teal-accented logo continues the trend started by LVI with the Roman numerals themed after the location where the game will be played, with purple-hued mesas and buttes accentuated by sunrays styled after Arizona's flag coming from the teal sky.
• The fourth Super Bowl to be held in Arizona after XXX, XLII, and XLIX. The third to have been held at State Farm Stadium (then known as University of Phoenix Stadium).
• First Super Bowl to feature the broadcast duo of Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen, following the departure of Fox's prior #1 duo of two decades, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.
• A matchup of #1 seeds that went 14-3 in the regular season:
  • The Eagles returned to the Super Bowl with a different head coach and quarterback than their last visit five years prior. Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz had been shown the door after a poor 2020 showing, but their successors Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts, the team's veteran core, and a splurge of free agent acquisitions helped give the Iggles a Top 5 offense and defense (including a #1 passing D). After posting a franchise-best regular season record, they cruised past the Giants and 49ers in the playoffs.
  • The Mahomes-Reid Chiefs continued their dominance of the AFC, again posting the league's #1 offense, and Mahomes won MVP after breaking the NFL record for most total offense in a season. After beating the Jaguars in the divisional round to reach their fifth straight AFCCG, KC got their revenge against the Bengals for their last playoff elimination with a game-winning field goal, securing their third Super Bowl appearance in four seasons and giving Reid the chance to coach against the team he had once brought to a Super Bowl. Mahomes sprained his ankle against the Jags, and prognosticators were concerned about the limits to his mobility. Partially due to this, the Eagles were narrowly favored by 1.5.
• The first Super Bowl with the starting Quarterbacks both having African heritage. Jalen Hurts is Black and Patrick Mahomes is mix-raced Black/Caucasian.
• Hurts and Mahomes, the top two candidates for MVP in the regular season, had the youngest combined age of any Super Bowl QB matchup.
• The first Super Bowl matchup to feature siblings playing on opposing teams: Eagles center Jason Kelce and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.^note surname pronounced "KEL-see" The perennial Pro Bowlers had both started a weekly podcast together at the start of the season.
• Ratings saw a notable spike; the 115.1 million average viewers were the most since XLIX, becoming the most watched program in American television history. Streaming hasn't killed traditional TV yet!
• Chris Stapleton's soulful and gritty country rendition of the National Anthem garnered a great deal of critical acclaim. More importantly, it immediately spawed a Memetic Mutation in the form of Sirianni's Patriotic Fervor reaction on the sideline, with Fox cameras catching both a Real Life Single Tear and full cascade of Manly Tears.
• The game was a closely-fought, high-scoring nail-biter. The Eagles played a bit more strongly in the first half, leading ten points over the Chiefs 24-14, though that gap would have likely been larger had Kansas City linebacker Nick Bolton not forced a fumble on Hurts and recovered it for 36 yards and a touchdown. This would be the only turnover of the game and critical for the final score.
• The halftime show featured Rihanna's return to the live music stage for the first time in five years. Rihanna had previously been approached by the NFL early in her musical hiatus, but she had rejected the offer to protest the NFL's treatment of Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protests in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement. This show was also the first in a decade not to be sponsored by Pepsi, as Apple Music took the reins. Rihanna used the opportunity to announce her pregnancy with her second child while she and an army of tightly choreographed dancers played out her greatest hits on a stage with flying platforms.
• Kansas City clawed their way back during the second half, especially with Kadarius Toney's Super Bowl record 65-yard punt return in the fourth quarter that set up a touchdown pass from Mahomes to rookie WR Skyy Moore (his first ever NFL score) to take the lead. While the Eagles moved right back down the field to tie the game, their defense was unable to prevent Mahomes and company from moving right back down into field goal range. A controversial defensive holding penalty on the Eagles then allowed the Chiefs to effectively run out the clock before Harrison Butker kicked the game-winning FG.^note Cornerback James Bradberry, who was called for the penalty, admitted after the game he did commit holding but was hoping the referees would "Let it go" as they had for the rest of the game.
• Mahomes won MVP for an extremely efficient performance^note 21/27 passes completed for just 182 yards, but 3 TDs for a 131.8 rating, plus 44 yards on the ground despite the limitations of his injury, which got further aggravated during the last two minutes of the second quarter. In doing so, he became the first QB since Kurt Warner in 1999 to win the regular season MVP and finish the job in the Super Bowl, and also became the first QB ever to win the Super Bowl after leading the NFL in passing yards during the regular season. His o-line deserves massive credit for this success, as Mahomes wasn't sacked once by one of the NFL's most QB-hungry defenses ever. (Observers also credited the lack of pass rush to the condition of the field; the NFL decided to experiment with a new type of turf that proved to be very slippery, with players struggling to gain good traction all game.)
  • Mahomes' victory was notable for another reason: His massive contract with the Chiefs meant that he took up more of his team's total salary cap space than any Super Bowl-winning QB in the cap era. This contributed to this Chiefs team being young and fairly inexperienced. Other than their first touchdown (in which the veteran Travis Kelce tied Rob Gronkowski for second most postseason TDs), all of the Chiefs' six-point scores came from players in their first year in Kansas City: rookies Moore and RB Isiah Pacheco and mid-season trade Toney.
• Hurts nearly carried the Eagles to a victory, passing Mahomes in many statistical categories^note 27/38 for 304 yards, posting the most rushing yards of any Super Bowl QB (70), and becoming just the second player and first QB to rush for three touchdowns in the Big Game. (Broncos RB Terrell Davis was the first to do this, in XXXII.) Hurts also threw a touchdown and rushed a two-point conversion. His twenty-point night tied the record for most points scored by one player, matching Patriots RB James White's total from LI.
• The Eagles set the record for most points scored in the Super Bowl by the losing team with 35. The previous record was 33, set by the Patriots... when they lost to the Eagles five years prior.
• The Eagles had a slight backslide following this season, as the departure of some major free agents, the aging of many of their veterans, and the loss of both of their coordinators after the Super Bowl resulted in regression. While they did make the playoffs, they collapsed late in the season and ended up being crushed by the Buccaneers in the Wild Card Round.
• The Chiefs on the other hand just kept their budding dynasty going, returning to the Super Bowl the very next year.

LVIII — February 11, 2024 / Allegiant Stadium, Paradise, Nevada / Kansas City Chiefs def. San Francisco 49ers 25–22 (OT)

MVP: Patrick Mahomes, QB
Network/Announcers: CBS (Jim Nantz, Tony Romo), Nickelodeon (Noah Eagle, Nate Burleson, Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants, Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star)
National Anthem/"America the Beautiful"/"Lift Every Voice and Sing": Reba McEntire / Post Malone / Andra Day
Coin Toss: Lahainaluna High School Lunas football head coach Bobby Watson (in tribute to the victims of the Lahaina, Hawaii wildfire in August 2023)
Halftime: Usher, featuring Alicia Keys, Jermaine Dupri, H.E.R., will.i.am, Lil' Jon, Ludacris, and the Sonic Boom of the South^note the marching band of Jackson State University (JSU)

• This was the first Super Bowl to be hosted in the Las Vegas Valley.
• The logo is purple accented and features the skyline of the Strip as well as the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign. Also, the Roman numerals are curved inward to evoke the architecture of the Bellagio and Wynn resorts.
• This was the first Super Bowl under the NFL's current 11-year contract for the game's TV broadcast, which now involves all of the "Big Four" commercial television networks, rotating between CBS, Fox, NBC, and the returning ABC (now joined with sister cable network ESPN).
• This was the first Super Bowl since the first to be presented in English on two different U.S. television channels. After two years of experimenting with children-focused regular-season and Wild Card simulcasts on Nickelodeon, Paramount aired America's biggest sporting event on their kids' network as Super Bowl LVIII: Live from Bikini Bottom, bringing slime effects, commentary from various Nick characters and the world of Bikini Bottom to the Big Game.
• The Spanish simulcast of the game was the first national NFL game to be broadcast on Univision, as CBS switched over from its usual Spanish partner ESPN Deportes (Deportes won't get to air a Super Bowl again until 2027 as a simulcast with ABC and ESPN as per the aforementioned new TV deal).
• Usher returned to the halftime show stage, having last appeared as a small part of The Black Eyed Peas performance a decade prior. Reportedly, this came after a heavy campaign to get Taylor Swift to perform failed (more on her later). His performance featured several guests, including Alicia Keys (who also played piano), Jermaine Dupri, H.E.R. (who played guitar), will.i.am (of the aforementioned Peas), Lil' Jon, and Ludacris. Keys' voice cracked at the beginning of the performance of her song "If I Ain't Got You", which led to the NFL scrubbing out the error and using Auto-Tune on her vocals for the official YouTube upload.
• A rematch of Super Bowl LIV. The Chiefs and 49ers are the eighth combination of teams to have played each other at least twice in the Super Bowl. This was the first Super Bowl rematch for the Chiefs and the second for the 49ers, who bested the Bengals twice in the '80s. Of all the previous rematches, this was the fourth time both teams have had the same head coach.^note Besides Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan in this game, the previous head coach rematches were Chuck Noll (Steelers) vs. Tom Landry (Cowboys), Jimmy Johnson (Cowboys) vs. Marv Levy (Bills), and Tom Coughlin (Giants) vs. Bill Belichick (Patriots). Like all of those other three rematches, the original winner was again victorious. This was the first of the head coach rematches where the starting quarterbacks were not the same. The Chiefs still have Patrick Mahomes, but the 49ers had Brock Purdy replacing Jimmy Garoppolo.
  • The Chiefs returned seeking to become the first team since the 2004 Patriots to successfully defend their Super Bowl title. They posted an 11–6 record, good enough to earn the #3 seed. Even with an apparent step down from their prior offensive dominance (in part due to leading the league in dropped passes), their #2 overall defense kept the team afloat. The Chiefs tightened things up in the postseason, first blowing out the Dolphins at home in Arrowhead in one of the coldest games ever played (controversially aired exclusively on Peacock), then winning tight thrillers over the Bills and Ravens. Throughout the season, they became the center of media attention even outside of sports media due to the aforementioned Swift attending most of their games to support her boyfriend, superstar TE Travis Kelce.
  • The Niners returned seeking their first title in decades and revenge on the Chiefs for their last Super Bowl defeat. They retained many of the same players from their earlier title appearance, with one major difference under center. While Jimmy Garoppolo had kept his job after a hard post-Super Bowl slump, leading the team to their first of three straight NFC Championship Games after 2021, injuries cost him the job in 2022—not to #3 overall draft pick Trey Lance, who had been expected to take over, but to little-known rookie Brock Purdy, who was the final pick in that draft. "Mr. Irrelevant" and newly acquired RB Christian McCaffrey very nearly took the team to the Super Bowl after 2022 before Purdy was injured in the NFCCG, and they managed to finish the job in '23. Boasting a top-five offense (with McCaffrey leading the NFL in rushing and scrimmage yards and total touchdowns and winning Offensive Player of the Year) and top-ten defense, they went 12–5, nabbed the #1 seed, and secured close comeback victories against the Packers and Lions in the playoffs. Unlike their last Super Bowl matchup, the Niners were narrowly favored to win by 2.
• Thanks partly to the Nickelodeon simulcast and partly due to Swift's presence and talked-about relationship with Travis Kelce, this Super Bowl broke the most-viewed American television broadcast record set last year at 123.4 million average viewers. It also set the record for the highest-ever unduplicated total audience with 202.4 million viewers having watched all or part of the game.
• Anything can happen in Las Vegas, and what Vegas saw was a lot of field goals, including the longest Super Bowl field goal record being broken twice in this game, with Niners kicker Jake Moody making a 55-yard field goal in the second quarter for the first score of the game, and then Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker answering with a 57-yard field goal in the third quarter. The only missed kick of the game was a blocked PAT from Moody late in the game, which ultimately made the difference by allowing Kansas City to play for the tie.
• As one might expect in a game where long field goals were the big story, this Super Bowl was a sloppy defensive battle through most of regulation, with no points in the first quarter. McCaffrey fumbled away the ball on the opening drive, and Chiefs RB Isiah Pacheco returned the favor with a red zone fumble a few possessions later. The only TD in the first half was thrown by receiver Jauan Jennings to CMC, once again giving the Niners a 10-point lead over the Chiefs. The Chiefs managed to make it a one-score game with an FG of their own before the half.
• Despite Mahomes throwing an interception on their first possession of the second half, the Chiefs scored ten unanswered points in the third quarter, in part due to a muffed punt and in part due to the Niners losing star LB Dre Greenlaw to a torn Achilles in a freak accident in the second quarter as he ran off the sideline. The Niners responded to take the lead with a long TD drive, but the blocked PAT kept it a three-point game. The teams exchanged field goals, and while the Niners kept Mahomes out of the end zone to win in regulation, they tied the game with another FG right before time expired.
• Second Super Bowl to go to overtime, the longest Super Bowl, and the first Super Bowl in which both teams had possession of the ball in overtime, as the NFL changed its OT rules for postseason games after 2022 so that each team had the opportunity for an offensive possession; this was actually the first postseason game played with these rules.^note The only previous Super Bowl overtime had ended with the Patriots scoring a TD on the first possession of overtime. Ironically, despite the NFL changing in response to outcry over potent offenses being eliminated in sudden death OT without ever seeing the field, the actual progression of overtime in this game would have resulted in the Chiefs winning according to the pre-2022 rules anyway, as they allowed the defending team to answer a field goal score with a drive of their own. The Niners got first possession and moved down to the red zone, but they had to settle for a field goal. Mahomes led a near-perfect drive in response, tossing the game-winning TD to Mecole Hardman.
  • Hardman had one of the most bizarre routes to becoming a Super Bowl hero. He was drafted by the Chiefs in 2019 and was part of their LIV winning team, though he only had a small role in the game, as well in the following year's loss to the Buccaneers. He was injured and didn't play against the Eagles in LVII. He signed with the Jets in the offseason, but only had one catch in five games. The Chiefs traded back for him as their receiving core was plagued with injuries and the league lead in drops. He wasn't a huge contributor and was restricted to one play in the AFC Championship as punishment for fumbling what should have been a touchdown through the endzone for a touchback against Buffalo a week earlier. Before his walk off catch, he caught a 52 yard pass from Mahomes in the second quarter that was negated the next play when Isiah Pacheco fumbled. He also had a two yard catch in the third quarter.
• Mahomes won MVP despite some early miscues and the interception, going 34/44 for 333 yards and 2 TDs, including the game-winner, while leading the team in rushing with 66 yards. Kelce was the Chiefs' leading receiver with 9 catches for 93 yards. While Mahomes had the statistically superior game to Purdy, several Niners put up MVP-worthy numbers; McCaffrey led the team in both rushing and receiving with 80 yards apiece, while receiver Jennings became the second player (after Nick Foles) to throw and catch a TD in the Big Game.
• In a fun bit of trivia, John Elway was the designated former athlete who brought the Lombardi trophy to the victory platform, meaning the Chiefs managed to force two of their division rivals to celebrate their win.^note  Bronco Legend brings them the trophy in the Raiders' stadium.
• The Chiefs became the first repeat Super Bowl champions since the 2003–04 Patriots, and with three rings in five years officially established themselves as the NFL's next dynasty after two decades of New England's dominance; Mahomes moves to #2 all-time in QB playoff wins behind only Tom Brady. They now look to become the first team to threepeat in the Super Bowl era.^note The Packers three-peated twice in the NFL in 1929-31 and 1965-1967, being the last NFL Champions and first two Super Bowl Champions.
• Unfortunately, Kansas City's victory parade held on Valentine's Day was marred by tragedy when at around 2 p.m. CST immediately after the rally, a shootout occurred at the west side of Kansas City Union Station. The shooting killed one woman—local DJ for KKFI Lisa Lopez-Galvan—and injured 22 others by gunshot, including nine children, as KC schools were closed for the celebration. An additional 18 people were injured by other circumstances. Three juveniles were apprehended, although one of them was released after it was determined that they were not involved in the shooting. Two more male adults were later arrested in relation to the shooting and charged with second-degree murder. While initially feared to be a mass shooting targeting the crowd, it was later determined that the shooting resulted from a verbal argument that escalated to violence.

Future Super Bowls

LIX — February 9, 2025 / Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

Network: Fox

• Super Bowl LVIII was initially awarded to New Orleans; however, with the NFL expanding the regular season to 17 games and the Super Bowl now conflicting with Mardi Gras, which fell on February 13, 2024, the NFL decided to move Super Bowl LVIII to Las Vegas, awarding Super Bowl LIX to New Orleans as a consolation. Mardi Gras in 2025 falls on March 4, well after the end of the 2024 NFL season.
• This will be the eleventh Super Bowl held in New Orleans (again tying with the Miami metropolitan area for most Super Bowls hosted) and the eighth at the Superdome.
• The logo for this Super Bowl is the first one that the NFL collaborated with a local artist to design. Tahj Williams, queen of the Black Masking Indian tribe in New Orleans, used brightly colored beading to design this logo of reds and greens that take inspiration from the Big Easy's Mardi Gras celebrations and the fleur-de-lis symbol strongly associated with the city.

LX — February 8, 2026 / Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California

Network: NBC

• This will be the third Super Bowl to be hosted in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the second at Levi's Stadium, exactly a decade since hosting Super Bowl 50.

LXI — February 14, 2027 / SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California

Network: ABC, ESPN

• This will be the ninth Super Bowl hosted in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and the second at SoFi Stadium, five years after hosting Super Bowl LVI.
• This game will be ABC's first Super Bowl in 21 years after last broadcasting Super Bowl XL in 2006, and ESPN's first ever Super Bowl.