The Kansas City Chiefs pulled off another inexplicable, historic comeback on Sunday, reeling off 21 straight points against the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth quarter to win Super Bowl LIV by a score of 31-20.
Congratulations are in order for Andy Reid, who will now finally get the recognition he deserves as one of the sport’s greatest coaches.
While the eventual Super Bowl MVP looked flustered by the 49ers defense for most of it, Patrick Mahomes made just enough plays down the stretch to lead another improbably successful come-from-behind effort. Our quarterback rankings will be coming out later in the month but it’s safe to say Mahomes will be at the top. His victory over Nick Bosa’s Niners brought his record to a preposterous 5-0 when falling behind by double digits this year.
Mahomes and the rest of Kansas City’s comeback kids are the new kings of the NFL. Now, the battle to dethrone them begins.
The odds are less than ideal for the Carolina Panthers to be the ones to do it. According to the updated odds for Super Bowl LV, they are 100/1. That ties them with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cincinnati Bengals and the Miami Dolphins for the second worst odds in the league. Only Washington (200/1) was lower on the list. The Chiefs are currently the favorites at 5/1.
Those are tough odds to swallow for any fan. Those in need of a silver lining should look to San Francisco as an example of how quickly a team can turn around in one year, though.
The 49ers went just 4-12 last year and few if anybody expected them to be playing in the Super Bowl when the season began. Kyle Shanahan will rightly get a lot of grief for blowing another huge lead in a championship game, but he also deserves an immense amount of credit for getting his team as far as he did – especially given his limitations at quarterback.
Even though they had an awful record in 2018, the 49ers’ roster was of course far more complete than Carolina’s right now. However, there is one interesting parallel.
Jimmy Garoppolo only played three games that season due to a torn ACL. While he clearly still has a ton of developing to do, his absence was the most significant factor in San Francisco’s struggles that year. By comparison, the Panthers were playing without Cam Newton for all but two games last season and it appears he will be coming back in 2020.
When he’s healthy, Newton is a far more capable QB than Garoppolo. He’ll also have a truly innovative offensive coordinator for the first time in his career. If they can fix the offensive line and Cam stays off the injury report, he will have a legitimate shot at Comeback Player of the Year and the Panthers likely will significantly improve on their 5-11 record.
That said, even if Newton gets back to an MVP level, the Panthers have a ton of questions to answer before we can even begin talking about a playoff run.
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