The Buccaneers have won their second Super Bowl title in their franchise history after beating the Chiefs, 31-9. One of Tampa’s prized acquisitions from this past offseason, Tom Brady, was nominated for his 5th Super Bowl MVP en route to his 7th Super Bowl victory.
This was the first-ever Super Bowl a team got to play in their home stadium, and the Buccaneers wound up with a victory on top of it.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady celebrates with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after beating the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV on Sunday. Mark J. Rebilas / Reuters
In the game, the Chiefs struck first with a 49-yard Field goal by Harrison Butker in the first quarter. The Buccaneers would answer at the very end of the quarter with a drive that ended in an 8-yard touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski. Once Tampa Bay took the lead with that score, they did not trail for the rest of the game. Kansas City would score another field goal in the second quarter, to put their total points at just 6 for the half. However, just before the half Tom Brady would throw a pair of touchdown passes in the final three minutes to take a 21-6 lead at halftime.
Tampa would outscore Kansas City 10-3 in the 3rd quarter, giving the Buccaneers a 31-9 advantage. This would wind up being the final score as there was no scoring from either side for the entirety of the first quarter.
Leading the passing attack for the Buccaneers was Tom Brady who completed 21 out of 29 passes and threw for 201 passing yards and 3 touchdown passes along with a 125.8 passer rating. The leader of the receiving game for the Buccaneers was tight end Rob Gronkowski, who caught 6 of 7 targets for 67 yards and 2 touchdowns. Antonio Brown also caught 5 passes with a touchdown catch as well. Running back Leonard Fournette wound up as the team’s rushing leader, as he turned 16 carries into 89 rushing yards and a touchdown run, averaging 5.6 yards per carry. Fournette also made 4 receptions on as many targets for 46 receiving yards.
Kansas City’s starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed just 26 of his 49 pass attempts, throwing for 270 passing yards, no touchdown passes, and 2 interceptions with a 52.3 passer rating. Mahomes also ran for 33 yards on 5 carries for the night. Tight end Travis Kelce was the leading receiver in the game, catching 10 of 15 targets for 133 receiving yards. Wide receiver Tyreek Hill also had 10 targets with 7 receptions for 73 receiving yards to show for it. Running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire was the team’s lead rusher with 9 carries for 64 yards and 7.1 yards per carry. Edwards-Helaire also caught 2 passes for 23 yards.
On defense for Tampa Bay, linebacker Devin White led the team in total tackles with 12, and 8 solo tackles. White also intercepted a pass and made 2 tackles for a loss. Safety Antoine Winfield Jr made 4 solo tackles and 6 total tackles, two passes defended, and an interception as well. Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh led the team in sacks with 1.5, while defensive end Shaquil Barrett recorded a sack as well. The defense as a collective unit allowed just 9 points and did not surrender a touchdown to the high-ranked Chiefs offense.
The Chiefs leader in tackles was linebacker Damien Wilson, who got 6 solo tackles and 10 tackles total. Linebacker Ben Niemann also recorded 4 total tackles and 9 total tackles. Defensive end Frank Clark recorded the only sack of the night for the Chiefs and produced 2 tackles for a loss in the game. Frank Clark also made the only quarterback hit of the game. The defense collectively allowed a total of 31 points and gave up 350 scrimmage yards in the game.
The Chiefs were penalized heavily, as they were called for 11 penalties and forfeited 120 yards as a result. The Buccaneers on the other hand only committed 4 penalties for a total of just 39 yards lost because of it.
As for the matchup between the two starting quarterbacks itself, this was the 5th time Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes have faced each other in total. With the victory for Brady, he is now 3-2 against Mahomes in their head-to-head matchups and 2-0 in the postseason. Their first two times they faced off was in the 2018 season, back when Tom Brady was still on the New England Patriots. Both games were decided by just one score, but Brady’s Patriots came through both times. The next two matchups were in 2019 and 2020, one being when Brady was with New England and the other with his new team, the Buccaneers. These games were also decided by only one score, but both of these times with Mahomes coming out as the victor. In this 5th and decisive matchup in the Super Bowl, Tom Brady won and took the lead at 3-2. It was also the first matchup between the two where the game was decided by more than one score. It remains to be seen whether Mahomes ever gets another matchup and a chance to pull even in their head-to-head record. Mahomes now falls to 6-2 in the playoffs with both losses coming to a Brady-led team.
The 22-point victory for Tampa Bay becomes the largest margin of victory for a Super Bowl since Super Bowl 48 seven years ago. That game finished 43-8, when the Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos.
With the end of the Super Bowl, are now headed towards the offseason before the 2021 NFL season. From here, the start of free agency begins March 17th, then the NFL Draft on April 29th.