The 2019-20 NFL season is official done. Regardless of whether you wanted the Chiefs to win or not, we can all agree that this Super Bowl was much, MUCH more entertaining than last year’s. Although to be completely honest that’s not something to brag about – you could have watched the wall for four hours and had the same experience as watching Super Bowl 53. It was a snooze-fest. Aaanyway, we wanted to highlight a couple quick takeaways from last night’s game, and if you find yourself remarking that these are obvious – they are. So you’re welcome for the insightful analysis!
Patrick Mahomes is the real deal
It wasn’t pretty, but Mahomes did what he needed to do to get the win. We’re used to seeing the young star sling the ball for 450 yards and five touchdowns, so a night that included two interceptions and a number of incomplete passes might not be much on the surface, but it’s how Mahomes got it done that’s important. Down ten with less than half of one quarter to play, he made the plays that mattered when they mattered and won his team the game. This was something we pointed out in our prediction article a week ago – Mahomes is an equalizer on the football field, and regardless of play calling, time management mishaps (looking at you Andy Reid), or the skill of the opposition’s defense, he find ways to win. This offseason, expect Mahomes to get the biggest contract in NFL history – by a pretty wide margin.
Jimmy Garoppolo not a solidified franchise QB
Going into this game, a lot of the talk focused on whether or not Garoppolo could lead a Super Bowl-winning team. It turns out he, uh, can’t. At least not yet. The 49ers’ QB was not able to make the big throws when they needed to be made, and his team paid the price for it. Was it his fault San Francisco lost? No. But with a better QB could they have put the game away or recovered from the Chiefs’ fourth quarter onslaught? Perhaps. This game will be looked at in detail over the course of the next seven months, as networks do their best to try to make us all interested in football that’s half a year away, and Garoppolo’s rank among NFL starting QB’s will be a discussion for sure. He’s not bad – on the Bears or Bengals he’d be a downright star! – but for stretches of Super Bowl LIV he appeared to be the weak link on his team. He’ll get better, but it’ll be a long offseason for him and his coach.
Kyle Shanahan will have a tough time shedding this narrative
As is often the case, every decision the losing coach in the Super Bowl made comes into question. For Shanahan, however, this questioning will become a narrative. Shanahan was the offensive coordinator of the Falcons when they historically gave up a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl against the Patriots. After LIV, it’s safe to say that sports analysts will debate whether or not Shanahan is capable of winning the biggest prize in football every time he approaches that game. Fair or not, that’s what’s going to happen.
Our predictions weren’t bad!
Last week we predicted that the final score of this game would be 31-27 Chiefs, and the final score ended up being 31-20 Chiefs. That’s kind of close! Does it matter that that final Kansas City touchdown happened in garbage time? No. No it does not.
Thanks for reading! As an FYI, we’re going to be contributing to the completely unnecessary practice of predicting things too far in advance by creating a list of where we think each team will finish next season – so stay tuned for that.