The Spire

Ben Kuchipudi ’26

Sports Editor

For the first time in 20 years, we have a repeat Super Bowl champion, as the Kansas City Chiefs took down the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in a game that started off slow, but ended up turning into a classic. America didn’t want to see any of these teams in the big game at first, but I’m sure they’re happy with the way the game turned out (besides Niners fans). As another season comes to a close, here are my five takeaways from Super Bowl LVIII.

Never bet against Kansas City. It’s that simple. 

After a Week 8 loss to the Denver Broncos, Patrick Mahomes’ first road loss against a divisional opponent, many were wondering if the Chiefs were truly done. They were still 6-2 and comfortably atop the AFC West, but the team looked bad. The receivers couldn’t catch a cold, Travis Kelce’s age looked to be showing, and Mahomes overall just wasn’t himself. Fans knew the Chiefs were going to be a playoff team, but how far could they go if the offense wasn’t humming? This team gave shades of the 2019 Patriots, a team that was lackluster on offense but had a strong defense to compensate for it. That Patriots team ended up winning the Super Bowl, and Kansas City did the same this year. In a year where they looked their worst, they clawed their way to another ring, and now they’re the first back to back champions since the Patriots from 2003-04. As much as people may hate on the Chiefs, they know how to win big games, and they did it again this season.

You can’t single out anyone for the 49ers, they just lost.

Usually in a big game you can scapegoat someone or something, whether it’s a player dropping a crucial pass or a referee making a bad call, there’s usually something that can be singled out. In this case though, the 49ers just lost. You can’t single out anything for them, they straight up lost. Brock Purdy played a good game, Christian McCaffrey carried the offense, and the defense forced multiple turnovers. The referees were also very clean this game as there weren’t any appalling calls. San Francisco just couldn’t capitalize on turnovers as they didn’t score off of either of them. The one player that could have been scapegoated was Jake Moody, as his extra point in the fourth quarter was blocked, keeping the game within a field goal. Had he made that extra point, the 49ers could have stopped Kansas City on the last possession of regulation and they would have been champions, but the one mistake cost them. Other than that though, there’s no one San Francisco could blame but themselves. 

Steve Spagnuolo is one of the best coordinators of this era.

In a year the Chiefs’ offense wasn’t the same, Steve Spagnuolo coached one of the best defensive units in football. His defense was lights out in the playoffs, as he held the historic Miami Dolphins offense to only seven points, the Buffalo Bills scoreless in the fourth quarter, forced Lamar Jackson into multiple turnovers, and bended but didn’t break against the 49ers. This is now Spags’ fourth championship as a defensive coordinator, which is an NFL record. He wasn’t a good head coach, compiling an 11-41 record with the Rams and the Giants, but some coordinators are just meant to be coordinators, and Spagnuolo is looking like one of the best coordinators we’ve seen this century.

The Super Bowl wasn’t the only loss San Francisco had.

Early in the second quarter, the 49ers defense was set to take the field when suddenly, Dre Greenlaw, Fred Warner’s partner at linebacker, went down before he made it to the field. While he was warming up, Greenlaw suffered a non-contact injury, and after the game it was confirmed to be a torn Achilles, arguably the worst injury an athlete could suffer. Greenlaw was the second half of the best linebacker tandem in the league, and now the 49ers aren’t going to have him for likely all of 2024. This injury gives shades of Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman, an elite linebacker duo for the 49ers during the Jim Harbaugh days whose careers ended early due to injuries. The hope is that Greenlaw won’t suffer the same fate, but losing one of the best off-ball linebackers in football is a huge blow for a team looking to finally get over the hump.

The Chiefs are officially a dynasty.

Six AFC championships, four Super Bowl appearances, and three championships. Yeah, I think that’s a dynasty. The Kansas City Chiefs are officially in New England Patriots territory, being the team that no one wants to see win anymore, but they always do. Even when they look their worst, they always find a way. Patrick Mahomes’ resume at 28 years old is unbelievable. In just six seasons as a starter, he has two MVPs, six division titles, four AFC titles, three rings, and three Super Bowl MVPs, just absurd. As long as he is playing at a high level, the Chiefs are always going to be a contender for the Super Bowl. Even if he isn’t playing at his best, just as Tom Brady did in his last seasons, Mahomes is always going to find a way to win, and if he keeps this pace up, he will surpass Tom Brady as the greatest player to ever play.