Making Sense of the Super Bowl in Taylor Swift's World
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs won their third title in five seasons. What does it all mean?
The Snap Count is a weekly column by Emilio Calderon and Caleb Catlin where they react to the previous week of NFL games and share their thoughts. In the end, they share what they think are the games to watch for next week’s slate.
For months, we wondered who could stop the seemingly inevitable. The most optimistic person thought maybe Mike McDaniels’ cracked out version of football with track and field athletes wearing pads might just work. It didn’t. Some people thought this would finally be the year Josh Allen and the Bills got over the hump and into the Super Bowl. It wasn’t. Some thought that this would be the year that Lamar Jackson and the Ravens would show the league that their regular season success was a sign of greater things. (Sigh.) It didn’t happen. In the end, Taylor Swift got her man and her man got his ring — sort of.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ 25-22 win over the San Francisco 49ers was, in some ways, inevitable. With their third Super Bowl in five years, the phrase “don’t bet against Patrick Mahomes” has gone from a tongue-in-cheek statement to just an observation. Niners HC Kyle Shanahan is now 0-2 in Super Bowls, as well as being on the wrong end of the Falcons’ 28-3 collapse in 2017 when he was the offensive coordinator in Atlanta. Some might say that’s just cruel fate.
What started as a grueling, defense-fueled grind in the first quarter slowly and brutally evolved into a street fight, something like, as Logan Roy would say, “A fight for a knife in the mud.” Despite early turnovers on both sides, The Niners rolled out to a 10-0 lead while their defensive line were keeping Kansas City’s offense pretty — and I mean, prrrreeeeeetty — quiet. Still, it never quite felt like the 49ers had the game in control. Firmer hand on the wheel, sure, but a championship team with their momentum would have been up by another possession or two. The Chiefs’ defense contained San Francisco’s talented but frenetic offense and before halftime, Harrison Butker put KC on the board and made it 10-3. All downhill from there.
I could go on describing the second half and overtime but one, if you’re reading this, you probably saw the game, and two, seriously, watch the highlights, this game was cuurrr-raaaaaaaaaaay-zeeeeeeeeee. Last year’s offensive shootout and the Nick Foles game against the Patriots are entertaining on football merit but this is probably the most dramatic, per se, Super Bowl since the Patriots’ comeback vs. Atlanta.
Caleb and I are back to recap SB LVIII and we’ve set up a few questions that we’re gonna toss the proverbial football back and forth on. We’re gonna talk about the game, what went wrong, what went right, which players we think stood out, and how this result will impact the offseason for both of these teams.
Thanks to everyone who enjoyed this column! This was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to doing something like this again for next season. But for now, let’s reflect on a good end to the season. — Emilio
The Game Itself
Biggest takeaways from the game?
Emilio: The big narratives throughout the season were all offense. Scroll up the page and you’ve got most of them: the Dolphins’ 3-second offense, the resurgent Bills, the Ravens post-Greg Roman. Other big narratives were the Chiefs’ lack of offensive talent, Joe Burrow’s injury, Dak Prescott’s resurgent year, and the Lions hitting a new peak with Jared Goff. In the end, none of those mattered because defense dominated and dictated this game until Patrick Mahomes took over in overtime.
In the first half, the 49ers often pressured Mahomes or collapsed the pocket. He rarely had opportunities to progress through all his reads or extend plays to reach into his magician’s hat, not until later on. In the second half, it was the Chiefs who stepped up, especially Chris Jones and their cornerback duo of Trent McDuffie and L’Jarius Sneed. Jones ate up the interior line and the varying pressure packages that Steve Spagnuolo dialed up made Brock Purdy very uncomfortable.
Though they didn’t have much success rushing Purdy on the outside, the combination of Jones and their blitz packages was enough to keep Purdy humble. He stood his ground at times but often threw into a crowded warzone in front him. The standout example here is the clutch play McDuffie made late in the fourth quarter. Purdy is about to hit Jauan Jennings for a 3rd down conversion on a slant, a conversion that may potentially end the game and lead the Niners to a clock-expiring and game-winning field goal. Instead, McDuffie smartly disguises his blitz by shuffling off the line and quickly shuffling his feet back before blitzing the B-gap and launching himself into Purdy’s passing cone.
Don’t get me wrong, I get excited and headstrong and start getting excited about putting points on the board too, but there’s a reason they always say, “Defense wins championships.”
Surprises from this game?
Emilio: I was very surprised by how the run games shook out throughout the course of this game. The early fumbles by both sides definitely did some damage to The Vibes™️ but just seemed surprising to me to see not just one but both teams reluctant to run ball.
Predictably, Christian McCaffery had a great game, running for 80 yards on 22 attempts and racking up 80 yards on 8 catches to go with his touchdown. On the other side, Isiah Pachecho had a modest showing, carrying the ball 18 times for 59 yards. You could say CMC had a prettier game based on the stat sheet but in both cases, I think the backs were in tough spots.
The Niners handed the ball off to McCaffery seven times in the second half, including only twice in the third quarter. The first hand off, a dive up the middle for no gain, was with five minutes left in the quarter after two three-and-outs. The demons of Shanahan’s Falcons collapse reared their ugly heads again with this one, a half with uninspired playcalling and a lack of clock management.
By the time Shanahan tried to vary up the run game with inside and outside zone run in the second half, the Chiefs’ front 7 had already woken up. For the second year in a row, Nick Bolton was excellent in defense for Kansas City, racking up 13 tackles. Also in the second half, Leo Chenal and Willie Gay Jr. came alive and helped shut down the Niners’ offense around the edges. Early on in the third quarter, Chenal had a huge play where he reads a screen to Jennings and drops him behind the line for a loss of eight. This series would result in a three-and-out.
If Shanahan wanted to run the ball, he needed to get ahead of it. (To be honest, I’m not entirely sure Shanahan wanted to run the ball any way, which is a separate issue that deserves its own criticism.) By the time the Chiefs took a 13-10 lead, the Niners found themselves behind the eight ball, relying on Purdy to get them through this.
The Fallout and/or the Afterparty
So… how does this affect Patrick Mahomes’ legacy?
Caleb: Everyone is going to be inclined to lean in favor of Tom Brady and his longevity, I get it. When you rack in as many rings as the face of New England and you’re still able to pull one out in your 40s, the case seems sealed. This is a boring and incomplete way of looking at football. The rings and accolades will always play a large part but there’s a set of physical attributes that play a large factor in how fantastic you are as a quarterback. For instance, Eli Manning has two rings and he can’t hold Dan Marino’s water because of the records mixed with the efficiency.
Patrick Mahomes is the rare breed with the legacy and the physical tools to be the best football player ever. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the wizardry he has with the ball, to be able to sling it downfield at any angle, off one foot, or fucking diving forward. His arm is a beautiful thing to witness, up there with Steph Curry’s three pointer and LeBron’s tomahawk dunk.
My dad often said throughout the Super Bowl that Mahomes was playing with his food, the same way he did in the other playoff games this year. I’m not inclined to agree there — he was efficient but definitely a little frazzled by the pressure SF was giving — but there is some truth to it. His poise in big games and in trailing scenarios are near mythical. Give that man a couple timeouts and 1:30 on the clock, you’re getting a touchdown.
He’s also on pace to annihilate playoff records and potentially three-peat. He still has plenty of seasons and he has the durability to outplay Brady’s ring count. He hasn’t even cracked 30 and has three rings and a first ballot Hall of Fame case already. He’s the best quarterback I’ve ever seen.
How could Kyle Shanahan have managed and/or coached this game differently?
Caleb: I wonder if Kyle Shanahan knows that he’s the problem. Firing Steve Wilks and claiming he’s not a right fit is an atrocious look, particularly because the defense held their ends of the bargain ’til the end. It was the Niners’ ability to pressure Mahomes that made the game as close as it was, sacking him three times and forcing him to collapse into rushes far more frequently than usual.
What was truly bizarre was Shanahan’s timid demeanor in the second half and his reluctance to sacrifice CMC to the most high for a Super Bowl ring. You can tell how winded McCaffrey was on his legs but that’s not where he thrived anyways. His capability as a dual threat was what made him the most viable non-QB MVP option, how he anchored Shanahan’s craft offense, and disorienting countless teams en route to the Super Bowl.
Instead, he relied on the well-marketed, milquetoast, meat-and-potatoes QB play of Brock Purdy. His lukewarm play only fueled the ‘game manager’ allegations hurled against him. In getting rid of Wilks — look out for him picking up a high profile DC job and killing it next year — and the OT debacle, Shanahan could risk losing the locker room and/or the front office.
What are your thoughts on Brock Purdy after his first full season in the NFL?
Caleb: They took the game manager label the wrong way. Contrary to Tony Romo’s constant glazing over basic QB instincts and the media’s lust to anoint him in the upper echelon, Brock Purdy is a game manager, but they want to make him something much more. I know why they’re doing it. They desperately want to follow the trail of easy marketing. You can see it now, “From Mr. Irrelevant to Irreplaceable” or something along those lines. Cam Newton wasn’t wrong though.
Watching Purdy is not a particularly revelatory experience, a serviceable QB at worst, genuinely great at best. He has strong awareness and a good arm to match, with the good IQ to be able to properly digest any Shanahan wizardry. He’s not a game changer though. He doesn’t change the trajectory of a football team by himself the way Newton did and Mahomes or Lamar Jackson do today. He’s also not an elite game manager either, the way Tom Brady was. Purdy showed this in the Super Bowl, almost robotic in his reads. He’s not quite efficient enough to be the face of the system the way guys like Brady were or sees where big plays are in the system like Brees did. Rather, he’s a vessel for schematic wizardry. It doesn’t make him that much lesser but it does create a hard line between himself and the kind of QB that could go blow for blow with the Patrick Mahomes of the world.
There were two big defensive free agents in this game: Chris Jones and Chase Young. How did they affect their future contracts?
Emilio: Let me tell ya, those boys are gonna get PAID. Chris Jones joined exclusive, elite company in Richard Seymour, becoming only the second defensive tackle ever to be named a first team All-Pro and win the Super Bowl in back-to-back seasons. Long amongst the tragic events of the Kansas City championship parade was a somewhat surprising statement: “I ain’t going nowhere,” loudly claimed Jones, when handed the microphone. His agent later backtracked this statement and said that an extension wouldn’t be happening any time soon — at least.
It has been claimed that Jones is looking for “Aaron Donald money” and the opposite — i.e. he’s not looking for that — has been reported as well. For reference, Donald is the highest-paid tackle in league history with a contract AAV of $31m; the second-highest is Jets DT Quinnen Williams at $24m. Even in this game, on the other side, you have 49ers DT Javon Hargrave with an AAV $21m. I’m not a math whiz but I’d say putting him anywhere between Donald and Williams seems like a fair deal. From a neutral standpoint, there are fun possibilities where you stick him in a place like Houston and create new narratives but let’s not fool around. Just pay him.
As for Young, swept under the rug it might be after this loss, I think he was San Francisco’s best defender not named Fred Warner on the night. He was okay to good after being acquired from Washington but when they needed him most, he really stepped up to the occasion. A major criticism of him was his run defense, especially on the edges and in the outside zone, but he covered space well and tackled really well on the night.
Impressed as I was, I’m not sure how much this changes the perception of him. On one hand, he played a great game in the Super Bowl. On the other, it doesn’t change the narrative of him being a streaky defender. Compare him to Montez Sweat, who has single handedly changed the look and feel of the Chicago front 7. Meanwhile, Young stepped into one of the best defenses in the league and only looked okay. Keep in mind, he is only 24 years old. Two possibilities: a contender will lowball him and offer him something close to $20m per year or a non-playoff looking to retool their defense will drop a bag. He’s getting paid, it’s just a matter of how much.
This was only the second overtime in Super Bowl history. It was also the first under the new playoff overtime rules. How do you think it played out?
Caleb: I’m actually going to stick up for the 49ers’ choice to receive the ball first. I know, strategically speaking, it would be smarter to be the last team to decide the fate of the game, but I also see the advantage of stripping Kansas City of their momentum— they had the ball to end the 4th quarter. If you have even a slight chance to take Mahomes out of rhythm, I think it’s a wise one, especially when the defense had been strong all game.
What I don’t agree with was settling for a pitiful field goal. Call me an insane psychopath, tell me that you should always take the guarantee of some points. You should always go for the death blow in an overtime situation. There should never be a moment where the opponent gets to feel like they can overtake you on their next drive. A field goal is a scary act of faith that you can stop them at all, let alone allow them three points to match.
Regardless, San Francisco should’ve came prepared for anything. It was particularly damning that no one seemed initiated on the new rules and their hearts sank a little when they learned Mahomes gets a crack at the end zone. They can lament these new rules along with other skeptics like Tom Brady but these rules are good for the game. The fates of these games should not lie on the whim of a coin toss. If you’re truly great, you score and hold the other team from the end zone. The Chiefs showed why they’re great.
What did you think of Usher’s halftime show?
Caleb: You can tell who got it and who didn’t. The crowd seemed rather muted and oblivious to the potency of non-“Yeah!” and “DJ Got Us Fallin in Love” hits. These are the risks you run when not anointing Usher with a halftime show over a decade ago. Instead, you saddled him as a co-star to the Black Eyed Peas. It played out like a show where corporate and audience neutrality wasn’t favored and the truly initiated were at home, cheering amongst themselves. Only they could get how cool it was to hear “Superstar” in this context. I’m just glad we can get cool performances like Usher’s to pop myself and those who truly get it.
Emilio: Swizz Beats, you are a coward.
Who do you think are halftime show candidates for the foreseeable future?
Caleb: Jay-Z can take the future halftime shows a few different ways. Since next year is in New Orleans, the obvious turn is a Cash Money reunion, where Juvenile runs “Back That Azz Up” and “Slow Motion,” Lil Wayne gets to run through his trough of hits spanning two decades, Nicki Minaj gets to rehab her image away from the bitter and stiff, and Drake gets the biggest stage of his career for arguably the biggest rapper ever.
I would be shocked if Jay-Z doesn’t inevitably commission himself for one of these performances. I imagine you partner Roc Nation with the NFL for that sort of legacy defining moment, to anoint yourself as the greatest to ever rap and have the stage to show that. Perhaps he could be the uniting force to broadcast New York’s rich history in hip-hop.
Let’s be real here, though. Taylor Swift would have to say no for the halftime show not to go to her. Her moments on TV celebrating Travis Kelce perform has raked in millions for the NFL. I imagine that was what Roger Goodell was stirring up when they showed him on TV profusely thanking Swift for the added revenue. This also lines up perfectly with how Taylor Swift has navigated in the past few years, reclaiming ownership of her work through re-recordings and workshopping Super Bowl grandeur during the Eras Tour. Take into consideration the Chiefs’ quest for a three-peat. America’s favorite power couple headlining the Super Bowl together? The script (allegedly) writes itself. It’s inevitable. Get ready to learn the lyrics to “Shake It Off”, buddy.
What is Travis Kelce’s favorite Taylor Swift album?
Emilio: He’s definitely a Fearless guy. I can imagine him going crazy for “Love Story” and from the newer stuff, I bet he knows all the words to “Anti-Hero”.
All statistics cited from Pro Football Reference and Next Gen Stats, unless stated otherwise.