Super Bowl
homes has three Super Bowl titles at age 28 and was the MVP in each of those wins. When he was 28, Brady had won three Super Bowls and been MVP for two. But at that age, Brady hadn’t won any regular-season MVPs, and Mahomes already has two.
• BEST CELEBRITY FAN EVER?: Taylor Swift’s fiercest loyalists might claim that she was the good luck charm that brought Kansas City another championship. Even if you’re not buying that, there’s no denying that her relationship with Travis Kelce added some buzz to what was a fairly drab regular
season for the Chiefs.
Then they went on their postseason run, culminating in an almost perfect storm of sports and pop culture intersecting at the Super Bowl. Maybe Kelce and Swift will be back at the Super Bowl next year, too, but the NFL and Chiefs fans shouldn’t take for granted the sequence of events that unfolded over the past few months.
• BEST HOST CITY EVER?: Now we’re definitely in the realm of the subjective, but the first Super Bowl in Las Vegas was a hit among many fans — some of whom came to town even if they weren’t sure they’d be able to get into the game.
The demand for tickets made it clear how popular
a site this was. And as sports leagues embrace Las Vegas more and more, it’s a question of when, not if, more events like this come to town.
• CRUSHING LOSS: The 49ers were about as close to a championship as you can be without winning it, and coach Kyle Shanahan is still chasing a title after losing another Super Bowl. He’s been on the wrong end of the only two Super Bowls to go to overtime — this one and Super Bowl 51, which he lost as an offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons. Shanahan is one of the game’s most influential offensive minds, but this wasn’t one of his masterpieces. The 49ers got 160 total yards from Christian McCaffrey, but two touchdowns
and three field goals weren’t enough for San Francisco to win. And Shanahan’s decision to take the ball first in overtime raised some eyebrows. Meanwhile, Kansas City’s Andy Reid won his third Super Bowl.
• HIS FINEST HOUR?: What a career defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has put together. When he was with the 2007 New York Giants, he helped take down previously unbeaten New England in the Super Bowl. Now he’s won three titles with the Chiefs.
With Mahomes and the offense no longer lighting up opposing secondaries like in the past, the pressure was on Spagnuolo’s defense. It delivered, holding Lamar Jackson and Baltimore to 10 points in the AFC championship game and then keeping Kansas City in it against the 49ers until the offense got rolling late.
• USHER SHINES: There was talk about whether Usher’s halftime show might be overshadowed by Swift’s presence in the crowd, but he delivered a set with several highlights, including appearances by Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Jermaine Dupri, Lil Jon and Ludacris.
• BRIGHT FUTURE: MVP Lamar Jackson may have taken home the biggest prize at NFL Honors this week, but the Houston Texans look like a team to watch going forward. They swept the Rookie of the Year awards for offense and defense with quarterback C.J. Stroud and defensive lineman Will Anderson Jr.