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Join Date: Sep 2004
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ESPN: Super Bowl stories for all 12 teams
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...s-all-12-teams
Quote:
The crystal-ball path to a Super Bowl title: The Chiefs finally made it back to the promised land. After going nearly 50 years without a Super Bowl -- heck, after going 25 years without as much as a home playoff win -- the Chiefs overcame years of hurt to top the Rams in a thrilling rematch of their regular-season classic. The 45-42 victory saw the two teams top 1,000 yards of total offense, with second-year quarterback Patrick Mahomes marking his 20th professional start by becoming the seventh player in league history to win both regular-season and postseason MVP awards in the same campaign.
The happiest man celebrating on the field in Atlanta, though, had to be Chiefs coach Andy Reid. After years of playoff frustrations and disappointments, the 20-year veteran finally made it back to the Super Bowl and won the big one. Perhaps even more satisfying was how Reid won. Famed for his clock-management gaffes and curious playoff decision-making, Reid's Chiefs pulled out their victory with a bit of aggression at just the right time.
With the Chiefs facing a fourth-and-3 with 2:29 to go on the Los Angeles 30-yard line, few would have faulted Reid for going conservative and attempting a 49-yard field goal to tie the score 42-42. When Reid used his second timeout to think about the move, Twitter blew up with Reid jokes, but the 60-year-old coach had the last laugh. Mahomes invited pressure from Aaron Donald and then threw a shovel pass to Travis Kelce into the exposed space behind the Defensive Player of the Year winner, giving the Chiefs a new set of downs.
Crucially, it also allowed Kansas City to hold on to the ball in lieu of handing it back to the Rams, who had gashed the Chiefs for more than 300 yards through the air and 197 yards on the ground. The Chiefs continued their drive and scored with 27 seconds left when Mahomes pushed the pile on a 1-yard sneak, giving Kansas City its 45-42 lead. There was a momentary gasp when Harrison Butker missed the ensuing extra point and kept the game within three points, but Jared Goff was strip sacked by Justin Houston on the second play of the ensuing drive to hand the Chiefs their second Super Bowl victory.
While Mahomes was the star on the biggest stage, the unit that carried Kansas City through the AFC bracket was actually its pass defense. Bob Sutton's secondary was the target of significant criticism throughout the season as the Chiefs ran through shootout after shootout, but DVOA pegged it as the 12th-best pass defense in the league by the end of the season. The pass rush showed up during a memorable January.
First, the Chiefs simply overwhelmed a Chargers offensive line that allowed five sacks in the last matchup between these two teams. That game essentially ended with the Chargers converting a two-pointer to prevail 29-28, but there was no drama in this one. Chris Jones strip sacked Rivers in the first quarter to hand the Chiefs a short field and a score, and just before halftime, Kendall Fuller deflected a Rivers pass to Eric Berry, who returned it deep into Chargers territory to set up a second touchdown off of a takeaway. A 72-yard run from Damien Williams in the fourth quarter sealed a 35-17 Chiefs victory.
Then, after the Texans upset the Patriots in Foxborough, the Chiefs were left with a matchup against one of the most sack-friendly offenses in football. The Texans don't have a great pass-blocking line, and for all of Deshaun Watson's brilliance, he holds on to the football longer than any NFL passer besides Russell Wilson and Josh Allen. The Chiefs didn't reward Watson for his patience, sacking the former Clemson star seven times while taking a Watson fumble to the house. DeAndre Hopkins racked up 152 receiving yards, but a superior game plan and a better offensive line kept Mahomes afloat. The 2017 first-rounder, drafted two picks before Watson, was sacked only once in a 28-17 Chiefs victory.
It looked like the Chiefs would have a mouthwatering Super Bowl rematch with Reid's former team, but the Eagles blew a five-point lead in the final minute of the NFC Championship Game when Goff found Robert Woods in the back of the end zone for an unlikely touchdown. Bettors pushed the pregame over/under all the way up to 68.5 points in Vegas before it settled at 66.5 at game time, but the two teams blew through that by the end of the third quarter.
The difference between the Super Bowl win and the regular-season loss was as old school as it gets: turnovers. In the Monday Night Football classic, the Chiefs turned over the ball five times, with the Rams producing two defensive touchdowns off those giveaways. In the Super Bowl, while Mahomes showed jitters with an early interception, the Chiefs held on to the ball the rest of the way while forcing two takeaways from Goff. The second handed the Chiefs their long-awaited prize.
Super Bowl comp: 2016 Falcons. I'm generally trying to find Super Bowl winners with these historical comparisons, but there just aren't as many teams with this sort of offensive firepower who also had a pretty mediocre defense. The Chiefs finished with the 17th-best offense since the merger by standardized score, but just six of the previous 16 teams also posted negative defenses, and none of them won the Super Bowl. The Kyle Shanahan-era Falcons are the closest Super Bowl comp, and like the Chiefs in this scenario, a hotter-than-expected defense helped fuel their agonizingly close run toward the Lombardi trophy.
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01-03-2019, 11:58 AM
ESPN: Super Bowl stories for all 12 teams
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