By Ross Vocaturo ’25
The 2023 NFL Season will conclude on Sunday, February 11, 2024, when the AFC’s Kansas City Chiefs and NFC’s San Francisco 49ers take the field for Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas. The two franchises are getting set for a Super Bowl LIV rematch from only 4 years ago, which the Chiefs took by a final score of 31-20 in Miami. However, things have changed on both fronts for this second rendition. While the franchises happen to meet again, the storylines revolving around both organizations individually have changed significantly.
Starting off with Kansas City, the generational QB-TE duo of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce has yet to slow down, and has shown no signs of doing so in the foreseeable future. The reigning Super Bowl champions, fresh off their 2nd title in 4 seasons (3rd in franchise history), have relied on the captains of their dynamic offense for almost the entirety of Mahomes’ career in the NFL, so much so that the Chiefs have appeared in every AFC Championship since Mahomes got the starting job in 2018, winning 4 of 7 Conference title games. With this in mind, it’s no wonder that the general public applauded Andy Reid and company’s plan to have Mahomes sit his first year in the NFL in order to be taken under the wing of long-time veteran (and incumbent Chiefs quarterback) Alex Smith back in 2017; this strategy went on to be coined the “Kansas City Model” and, to this day, has been adopted by various other franchises across the league.
At age 28, Mahomes already has a resume including 2 Super Bowl championships, 2 Super Bowl MVPs, and 2 regular-season MVPs, and the list only seems to be growing by the season. While those numbers may not seem to jump off the page, it’s important to keep in mind that greats such as Peyton Manning, John Elway, Ben Roethlisberger, and Bart Starr would only win 2 Super Bowls across their entire careers, while others such as Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees only have 1 ring to show for.
As far as the rest of this Chiefs team goes, this season was not as smooth-sailing as they’ve been in the past, even despite their very respectable 11-6 record. For starters, they did not clinch the AFC West until Week 17, following a win vs the Joe Burrow-less Bengals; the 2023 AFC West title would be their 8th consecutive, a Division record. And while Mahomes and Kelce had hiccups at certain points throughout the season, they were far from the Chiefs’ problems. One glaring issue in particular was former New York Giant Kadarius Toney, who grew infamous for his countless drops throughout the season, particularly on opening night of the regular season against the Detroit Lions. Toney also got criticism for an offside penalty on what would’ve been the game-winning play in Week 14 against the Bills, the game that would kickstart a 5-game winning streak for Buffalo. Kansas City has also been notorious for their lack of talented skill-position players (excluding Kelce and RB Isiah Pacheco, a Rutgers alumnus) ever since the departure of All-Pro wideout Tyreek Hill.
Despite Kansas City’s lack of chemistry on offense, it was the defense who carried the load in multiple games this season, contrary to prior seasons in KC where the defense was looked at as the Chiefs’ “weakness.” Led by former Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, the Chiefs defensive unit already housed All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones. But it’s been the Pro-Bowl caliber emergence of multiple other guys on the unit that quickly flipped the perception of the Chiefs defense, such as J’Jarius Sneed (CB), Nick Bolton (LB), and Trent McDuffie (CB). While many still view Andy Reid’s offensive unit as the franchise’s claim to fame -and rightfully so – the defensive efforts in KC shouldn’t go unnoticed. With all that being said, a synopsis on the Chiefs could realistically be summed up in four words: “Never bet against Mahomes.”
Meanwhile, an argument cannot be made for the San Francisco 49ers to be “playing with house money” if we’re speaking in Vegas terms. While the Chiefs are looking to add to pre-existing legacies, the Niners are looking to begin their legacies, some that are long-overdue. Led by Kyle Shanahan, son of famed former coach Mike Shanahan, the 49ers have been a top contender for just about five seasons, the reaped benefits of a grueling rebuilding period in Santa Clara. Similar to Kansas City’s formula, many of the cornerstones of this 49ers team are home-grown: Nick Bosa (DE), Deebo Samuel (WR), Fred Warner (LB), and more. The most headline-grabbing home-grown talent in San Francisco, however, happens to be the man under center for the Niners. Not only was Brock Purdy (QB) drafted by the 49ers in 2022, but he was also taken with the last overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, dubbed “Mr. Irrelevant.” And ever since taking over for the injured Jimmy Garoppolo towards the end of the 2022 regular season, Purdy has given San Francisco the elite consistency at the quarterback position they’ve lacked for nearly their entire contention window, even during their NFC Championship campaign in 2019.
Purdy isn’t the only new addition from the 2019 San Francisco team. The 49ers bolstered their backfield last season by acquiring All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey from the Carolina Panthers in exchange for hefty draft capital. Despite lingering injury concerns, McCaffrey has made a case for himself as the league’s best RB when he’s on the field. Along with Purdy and McCaffrey on the Niners’ offensive unit is the dual-threat Deebo Samuel, wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, and All-Pro tight end George Kittle, along with one of the league’s best offensive linemen up front in Trent Williams. Their defense is arguably better, including Pro-Bowl names such as the aforementioned Nick Bosa and Fred Warner, as well as Dre Greenlaw (LB), Charvarius Ward (CB), Javon Hargrave (DT), and the recently-acquired Chase Young (DE).
Considering all of this, however, this Niners regime has yet to get over the hump ever since their window of contention opened in 2019 with the Super Bowl loss. Since then, San Francisco has seen their double digit-win seasons end in disappointment, with back-to-back Conference Championship losses in 2021 and 2022 to the Rams and Eagles, respectively. Kyle Shanahasn individually has a chip on his shoulder ever since being the offensive mastermind behind the Falcons’ infamous collapse in 2017, and an additional blown lead at halftime in Miami 4 years ago (20-10 SF lead at half in 2020). While many view the Niners as a well-oiled machine in terms of how they’re run on and off the field, a second loss in the big game to the same organization may cause people to start turning heads.
All in all, Super Bowl LVIII will bring in as much viewership as ever, if not more. For the halftime show demographic, Usher will be taking the stage prior to the start of the third quarter, with Lil Jon and Ludacris speculated to also make an appearance. For betting audiences, the spread is currently sitting at -2 (SF), while the over/under line is set at 47.5 (according to FanDuel).
For the Chiefs, the goal is to solidify themselves as the next generation’s “dynasty” and bringing ring number four to Missouri. For the Niners, ending the 30-year Super Bowl drought and bringing their franchise total to 6 is the focus. Regardless of how the game pans out, there’s no denying that eyeballs all across the globe will be tuned into CBS at some point in the night.