Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs – this year’s Super Bowl Champions. The Niners ran off 17unanswered points between the late 2nd quarter and the start of the 4th quarter to take a 20-10 lead. The Chiefs “had them right where they wanted them” and did the patented Chiefs’ “rally from behind thing” to post 3 TDs in the late stages of the game to win going away 31-20. The Chiefs won 3 playoff games this year; they trailed by double digits in all three of those games and came back to win them all.
Demonstrating that QBs get more credit for success than may be deserved and more blame for defeat than may be deserved, consider the reaction to the performances of the two QBs here.
- Patrick Mahomes threw 3 TD passes and amassed more than 300 yards through the air and was the MVP for the game. However, he also threw 2 ugly INTs and many of his passes were less than ideally placed for the first 3 quarters of the game. But he did lead that comeback; the Chiefs did win; he is the MVP and the player bathed in glory.
- Jimmy Garoppolo threw only 1 ugly INT – it looked to me on the replay as if his eyes were closed as he let fly on that pass – and was far more accurate with his throws for the first 3 quarters of the game. But he did not “get it done” in the final 8 minutes of the game and he is considered in some quarters as the “goat” as opposed to the “GOAT”.
Damien Williams scored 2 TDs in the game – and he was an undrafted free agent. Kyle Juszczyk is a Harvard grad and also scored a TD in the game. Come April when folks are obsessed with who gets taken where in the first round of the Draft, please recall that Juszczyk was a 4th round pick from an Ivy League school and Williams was passed over by every team in the league in every round despite playing at Oklahoma. Oh, and he has been bouncing around the pro football world since being ignored in the 2014 NFL Draft. Just saying…
I am not ready just yet to get caught up in the euphoria that has afflicted some commentators declaring that last night’s victory announces the arrival of a new dynasty in the NFL. I prefer to wait at least another 3 or 4 years before I get into “dynasty proclamations” but I will admit that some demographic data points to possible long-term success for the Chiefs:
- WR Mecole Hardman is 21 years old
- QB Patrick Mahomes is 24 years old
- WR Tyreek Hill is 25 years old
- WR Sammy Watkins is 26 years old
- RB Damien Williams is 27 years old
- TE Travis Kelce is – antiquated by these standards – 30 years old.
I know. Those are just the skill players on the offensive side of the ball and football is a team game that requires balance. Nonetheless, that is a pretty good offensive base to start with; the Chiefs are not likely to be losing many 10-3 football games any time soon.
I watched the game in Philadelphia with a group of friends who always convene for this event. There was an interesting split in thinking there. One school was rooting for Andy Reid to win his first Super Bowl because of his ties to the Philadelphia Eagles in times past. The other point of view was to root for any team playing the Chiefs because those folks did not want Andy Reid ever to win a Super Bowl because he did not do so in his time with the Eagles. I mentioned last Friday that many thought that Reid needed a Super Bowl win to “qualify” for the Pro Football Hall of Fame; I did not share that view, but that narrative was out there.
Now that he has the Super Bowl win, here are the stats to tell you why he should be in the Hall of Fame as a coach:
- Currently, there are 18 coaches in the Hall of Fame; 2 more will be inducted in August bringing the total to 20.
- Andy Reid has 207 regular season wins as a head coach in his career and 222 wins in all counting the playoffs. He has more wins than 15 of the 20 coaches who will be in the Hall of Fame as next season kicks off.
- Andy Reid’s winning percentage is .618. That win percentage is higher than 8 of the current and imminent Hall of Fame inductees. Four of the coaches with a lower winning percentage in the Hall of Fame include Bill Walsh, Tom Landry, Hank Stram and Chuck Noll; I doubt anyone would object to the inclusion of any of those 4 men.
- And now, Andy Reid has his “Super Bowl credential” …
It was sometime during the early part of the 4th quarter where we were going through another series of Super Bowl ads that I said the commercials this year were really lame. To demonstrate my point, I said that the two political ads – bought by the Trump campaign and by Michael Bloomberg – were among the best ones I had seen to that point. Ten years ago, Super Bowl ads were creative and entertaining. Yesterday they were abstruse bordering on unfathomable. If this is the harbinger of a trend related to advertisements on sporting events for 2020, I shall not lack for material when it comes time for my annual “Bad Ads” rant in late December.
One ad featured Bill Murray and a groundhog recalling that movie from about 25 years ago. I have long thought it would be great if the producers of that movie announced that they were making Groundhog Day 2”; and then when it was time for the premiere, they just re-released the original Groundhog Day film from the past. Sounds like a hoot to me…
Finally, Brad Dickson had an interesting observation in a Tweet once yesterday’s game was over:
“Now comes the hard part – carrying Andy Reid off the field.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
As one who is from Philadelphia and who would rather have Andy Reid never coach a winning team in the Super Bowl, no part of that position was based on the fact he did not win one in Philly. There were, however, 2 reasons (3 if you count because Howard Eskin wanted him to) that I felt that way. As an Eagles fan, I felt that Big Red spent 14 years disrespecting the fans by never answering a question at a news conference with anything substantive always saying that he had to do a better job of putting the players in a position to succeed. If he couldn’t do that in 14 years, he couldn’t be a very good coach, could he? Second, he had no qualms about signing multiple abusers, both of women and children, on his team. Tyreek Hill, Frank Clark, Kareem Hunt… nope, not going to support his win.
Gary Cutler:
We shall have to agree to disagree on this one…
Concerning all the memorializing of Kobe, why has there been no mention of MJ or Phil and their silence? Just wondering.
Ron Baderman:
Welcome back. Have not heard from you in a while.
Jordan did have a brief comment regarding Kobe Bryant after the accident but I do not recall hearing anything from Jackson and a cursory search did not turn up anything.
About the running backs…. this is one of the reasons the Giants were so criticized for picking Saquon Barkley so high last year. Now, he is one of the best RBs in the league. Plays hard, plays hurt, runs well, even sells soup with his mom. Upstanding young man. but you are locked into a top 3 salary slot from the draft, so he is one of the highest paid as well.
Lets see how important the RB slot is.. last few SB champs, the leading regular season rusher, and his draft slot
2020 – Chiefs – Williams – undrafted
2019 – Pats – Michel (1,31)
2018 – Eagles – Blount – undrafted
2017 – Pats – Blount – Undrafted
2016 – Broncos – Hillman (3,67)
2015 – Pats – Vereen (2,56)
2014 – Seahawks – Lynch (1,12)
2013 – Ravens – Rice (2,55)
2012 – Giants – Bradshaw (7,250)
2011 – Packers – Jackson (2,63)
so in the last 10, 3 times the leading rusher on the championship team was undrafted. Only twice was he in the top 50, and never in the top 10.
And how many were considered DOMINANT? Maybe Lynch.
as a comparison, where were the QBs taken?
2020 – Chiefs – Mahomes (1,10)
2019 – Pats – Brady (6,199)
2018 – Eagles -Wentz (1,2) (though Foles(3,88) replaced him – injured
2017 – Pats -Brady (6,199)
2016 – Broncos – P. Manning (1,1)
2015 – Pats – Brady (6,199)
2014 – Seahawks – Wilson (3,75)
2013 – Ravens – Flacco (1,18)
2012 – Giants – E Manning (1,1)
2011 – Packers – Rodgers (1,24)
The league blew it on Brady. The question was Wilson’s size… if the were 6’3″ he’s top-10. Number of players drafted outside the first round is the same as the number drafted first overall. 8 names, 6 first rounders.
And the careers? Brady and Peyton are in the GOAT talk. And much of the decade many thought the best QB was Rodgers. Mahomes is considered the best young QB now. I think Eli (2 SB MVPs) is headed to Canton, and quite possibly Wilson. So… maybe 7 of the 10 years a HOF QB led them? Mahomes WAY too early to even think of, Wentz can’t stay healthy. Flacco… uh, Hi, Joe!
It’s a QB league.
Ed:
Could not agree more; it is a QB league and the “science” of finding a top-shelf RB prior to the draft is not very advanced. In fact, I would argue it is more of an “art” than a “science”.
No comments on the three ref calls that went against the 49ers?
Congratulations to Coach Andy Reid.
TenaciousP:
I did not see any replays that should have resulted in overturning the call on the field. The closest one was the TD by Damien Williams where the question was when his foot went out of bounds relative to the time when the ball crossed the plane of the goal line. Even that one was inconclusive to me.