Allie Wenskoski, Junior
On Sunday night, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs took to Raymond James Stadium for a winner takes all game that Buccaneers fans will never forget. The Buccaneers were making history with being the first National Football League (NFL) team to ever play in the Super Bowl in their home stadium. Usually the Super Bowl is played on a neutral site, but the NFL’s 2020-2021 season was full of firsts. Attempting back-to-back Super Bowl wins was the Chiefs with quarterback Patrick Mahomes leading the charge, though they needed to get through a tough obstacle first: Buccaneers defense and quarterback Tom Brady. For Brady, this was his tenth Super Bowl appearance.
To start the action, the Chiefs won the coin toss and elected to defer, so the Buccaneers would start on offense. After a quiet first seven minutes to the first quarter, the Chiefs scored the first points of the game with Harrison Butker kicking a 39-yard field goal. With 5:10 left in the first quarter, the Chiefs had the lead 3-0. Brady quickly got into his own groove after receiving the ball and threw a few quick passes to drive the ball down field. With an eight yard touchdown, Rob Gronkowski turned the score back in favor for Tampa Bay, 7-3. The quarter ended after three more minutes of play and then both teams had trouble scoring in the second half. After some back and forth play, Brady found Gronkowski once again for a 17-yard touchdown which widened the Bucs’ lead to 14-3. Wanting to take some momentum into the locker room for halftime, Mahomes desperately drove his team down field, but was forced to a 4th down at the 34 yard line. Butker was called out once again and connected on a field goal to narrow the Buccaneers' lead. Though there was only 1:01 left before halftime, the scoring for the half was not over. Brady passed to Antonio Brown who went in for the touchdown and extended Tampa Bay’s lead to 21-6.
After the Weeknd’s halftime show, which got the crowd cheering, the Chiefs seemed to bring some momentum out of the locker room. Once again they were able to drive down the field, but just couldn’t go all the way. They were forced for a long 52-yard field goal attempt and Butker made it once again, changing the score to 21-9. However, the third quarter turned around quickly when the Bucs scored another touchdown with 7:45 left on the clock. After an interception by Antoine Winfield, the Buccaneers had the ball back once again and Ryan Succop made a 52-yard field goal which increased Tampa Bay’s lead to 31-9. This score remained from the end of the third quarter and all the way to the end of the game. The Buccaneers defeated the Chiefs 31-9.
After the game, Tampa Bay was awarded their trophy and Tom Brady was named the Super Bowl’s MVP. This is his 7th Super Bowl win and 5th Super Bowl MVP. With 7 Super Bowl wins, Brady now has one more Super Bowls than any single NFL team. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots are tied with 6 Super Bowl titles, which is the most for a single team. Additionally, Buccaneers’ Bruce Arians won his first Super Bowl, and this was his first Super Bowl appearance as head coach. Though Brady and Buccaneers fans are happy about their franchise winning, for the Chiefs and their fans it is a different story. Super Bowl LV ultimately came down to Tampa Bay’s defense, who was all over Mahomes. He was sacked three times and hit eight times, which leaves fans questioning if the game had been different if the Chief’s offensive line had just played a little bit better.
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