Some Super Bowl Thoughts

Congratulations Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Well, Super Bowl LV was a disappointment. Maybe my expectations were too high. It was an amazing feat that the NFL got completely to and through the Super Bowl during a global pandemic. This country couldn’t do what the NFL did. Not even close. Some might say that this season was a miracle. Maybe I was hoping for a similarly miraculous Super Bowl. This game had the makings of a classic. Instead, it was the ho-hum sort of game that was the Super Bowl norm of the 1980s and 1990s. It was disappointing.

Super Bowl LV was decided before the musical numbers, before Amanda Gorman’s beautiful poem, before the questionable recreation of Vince Lombardi. Injuries forced the Kansas City Chiefs to play with an offensive line better suited for a fourth preseason game. Patrick Mahomes was forced to play behind an offensive line that couldn’t protect him, that hadn’t a hope of protecting him. Playing defense becomes real easy when half of the front seven is in the quarterback’s face upon receipt of the ball. I had hoped that Andy Reid, Eric Bieniemy, Mike Kafka and the rest of the Chiefs’ offensive coaches could scheme around the offensive line deficiencies. They couldn’t or didn’t. 

Tom Brady took home the Super Bowl LV MVP award. He didn’t have to do much more than show up for the game to get it. One could argue that Mahomes was the MVP of the game. He had to do much more to lead his team to nine points than Brady did in leading his team to 31 points. 

Devin White was the game’s MVP in my book. 

The ESPN headline for the game gushed “Brady, fierce defense leads Bucs to Super Bowl victory.” Brady and the Bucs defense basically took advantage of the good fortune they were handed in the biggest game of the season. Everything looked easy, already made for the Buccaneers. 

Every year I hope for a Minnesota Vikings Super Bowl. I haven’t seen that since Super Bowl XI. If the Vikings can’t be in the Super Bowl, I just hope for a good game. As a fan of football, I just hope for a good Super Bowl. This wasn’t. This wasn’t a good Super Bowl and the outcome was decided when the Chiefs were forced to go with an offensive line of barely regular season ability. With all that the league, the teams, the coaches, the players, and the fans went through to get here, it’s just disappointing. So disappointing.