Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs are on top of the world after winning the Super Bowl in dramatic fashion on Sunday night. It’s the first Super Bowl for the franchise in 50 years, which means the partying is going to be some next-level stuff for both the players and the fans of the team.
Kelce, who scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter in Super Bowl 54, shared on Instagram that he grew up playing hockey and one day dreamed of drinking out of the Stanley Cup.
Well, he’s a football player and the Lombardi Trophy doesn’t have a cup on it, so drinking out of it isn’t a possibility, right?
Travis Kelce, the team’s star tight end, says they won’t have to wait nearly as long for another Lombardi Trophy.
The Kansas City Chiefs had to wait 50 years to get back to the NFL’s biggest stage after winning Super Bowl IV in 1970.
But Travis Kelce, the team’s star tight end, says they won’t have to wait nearly as long for another Lombardi Trophy.
“The dynasty is just starting, baby,’’ he told reporters after the Chiefs’ 31-20 win over the 49ers in Miami. “It’s just starting. Motivated to do it again, for sure.’’
That may feel like a bold promise to make after just one Super Bowl title in recent history, but several of Kelce’s teammates spoke of a budding dynasty after the win, including defensive tackle Chris Jones and wide receiver Tyreek Hill.
Chris Jones says this is a dynasty in the making, and that he plans to drink some alcohol tonight to celebrate the occasion: pic.twitter.com/z0aU4IX5n0
Patrick Mahomes tried to slow down the dynasty talk in his post-game press conference:
“For me, it’s about taking it one year at a time. We came up short last year. We understood how hard of a challenge it was to get in this position again, and we found a way to do it. … We have to take it one year at a time, one day at a time, and try to put together great years. And then, at the end of it all, we’ll have no regrets of where we’re at.”
LeBron James congratulates Travis Kelce, Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs for winning the Super Bowl.
LeBron James watched with all of us as the Kansas City Chiefs came back from down 10 points in the fourth quarter against the San Francisco 49ers to win Super Bowl LIV 31-20. Following the victory, King James shouted the Chiefs All-Pro TE, Travis Kelce, out on Twitter along with their head coach Andy Reid.
Like James, Kelce is a native of Northeast Ohio having graduated from Cleveland Heights High School before starring at the University of Cincinnati on his way to the NFL. Kelce scored a pivotal touchdown late in the Super Bowl while finishing the game with six catches and 43 yards.
Meanwhile, Andy Reid finally cashed in a long-awaited Super Bowl victory after being the coach with the most wins in NFL history without winning the big game. He had previously led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl that they lost to the New England Patriots.
Happy as hell for the big guy Andy Reid!! Congrats Coach!!! 👏🏾🙏🏾
Kansas City QB Patrick Mahomes was named the MVP of Super Bowl LIV after guiding the Chiefs to the 11-point victory. He finished 26-of-42 for 286 passing yards and two passing touchdowns, adding 29 rushing yards and one score on the ground.
During the second quarter, LeBron made his only commercial appearance of the game promoting a new all-electric Hummer by General Motors.
The Chiefs erupted for 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LIV.
The Kansas City Chiefs were down 20-10 and hopes were fading entering the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Super Bowl LIV against the San Francisco 49ers at Hard Rock Stadium.
Fifteen minutes separated Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes from disappointment. And then Mahomes magic took over the the quarterback led the Chiefs to 21 unanswered points and a 31-20 victory that ended a 50-year drought for Kansas City.
How did it happen?
SF:20-10 to 20-17
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Travis Kelce 1 Yd pass from Patrick Mahomes (Harrison Butker Kick)
Drive: 10 plays, 83 yards, 2:40
Key plays:
3rd & 15 at KC 35
(7:13 – 4th) (Shotgun) P.Mahomes pass deep left to T.Hill to SF 21 for 44 yards (J.Ward) [D.Buckner].
3rd & 10 at SF 21
(6:23 – 4th) (Shotgun) P.Mahomes pass incomplete deep left to T.Kelce (T.Moore). PENALTY on SF-T.Moore, Defensive Pass Interference, 20 yards, enforced at SF 21 – No Play.
How can the 49ers stop the explosive Chiefs offense in Super Bowl LIV? Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard offers his ideas from experience.
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MIAMI — Over the past three seasons, no defensive player in the NFL has more interceptions than Titans safety Kevin Byard, and it’s not particularly close. Cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Darius Slay are tied for second with 13, behind Byard and his 17 picks since 2017. The Middle Tennessee State alum, selected in the third round of the 2016 draft, led the league with eight interceptions in 2017, his first season as a full-time starter. But Byard hasn’t just kept the pace up with interceptions; he’s also expanded his game to become one of the NFL’s most versatile defensive backs.
Last season, per Pro Football Focus, Byard played 690 of his 1,321 snaps at free safety. He also moved to the box on 386 snaps, played slot cornerback 182 times, moved out to wide cornerback 49 times, and even had 14 snaps along the defensive line. As he told me this week, being a modern defensive back is as much about versatility as it is about production.
“In today’s football, it’s tough to be a guy who can only play in the box or can only play in the post,” he said. “The more versatile you can be for your team, the longer you’ll be able to play. Every offseason, I figure out what I can work on, and I especially feel I can be better in my man coverage. Every time we play a great tight end, I want to be able to tell my coaches, ‘Hey, I want to cover this guy.’ Being able to cover tight ends in man coverage, or even receivers in the slot when they come out with four-receiver sets, playing in the post, playing deep in two-high sets, things like that — my versatility [comes from] a lot of hard work in the offseason.”
Tennessee Titans free safety Kevin Byard intercepts a pass against the Baltimore Ravens in the first quarter of an AFC divisional-round playoff game on Jan. 11. The Titans beat the Ravens, 28-12. (Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports)
And now, another offseason. In Miami for his endorsement of Campbell’s Chunky Soup, on whose behalf he has helped feed people with 10,000 bowls of soup in his own community, Byard sat down with me prior to Super Bowl LIV to talk about the Chiefs offense. It’s an offense his Titans tried to stop twice this season, and as we all know, that’s never an easy task.
Tennessee won the teams’ Week 10 matchup, 35-32, but Patrick Mahomes still completed 36 of 50 passes for 446 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. The Nov. 10 game marked Mahomes’ first game back on the field since he suffered a dislocated kneecap on Oct. 17, and though he wasn’t as mobile as he would be later in the season, he still was able to execute insane plays like this 63-yard touchdown pass to receiver Mecole Hardman.
Fast-forward to the AFC Championship Game, which the sixth-seeded Titans reached by upsetting the top-seeded Ravens in the divisional round by — among other things — frustrating Lamar Jackson with late-disguised coverages, and Tennessee’s defense had to be encouraged by their prospects. The Titans got out to leads of 10-0 and 17-7 against the Chiefs. Then, the full version of Mahomes did his thing. Not only did he complete 23 of 35 passes for 294 yards and three more touchdowns, he also delivered this incredible 27-yard touchdown run that put the Chiefs up, 21-17, and gave them the lead they would never relinquish.
Byard’s Titans gave it their best, but after a 35-24 loss, Byard is on the outside looking in. Despite that disappointment, he was willing to discuss the inner workings of the Chiefs offense from a player’s perspective.
“They present a lot of challenges, man,” Byard said. “They have so much speed all over the field with Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman, but they also have the best tight end in the league, in my opinion, in Travis Kelce. They also have a really good run game as well. Then, you have the MVP behind the center, so … great offense.”
This 8-yard pass below from Mahomes to Travis Kelce on third-and-10 with 3:43 left in the first quarter caught my eye for a number of reasons — the way coverage switched from a man pre-snap perception to a zone pressure look, and how Byard (No. 31, at the bottom of the screen) was right over Kelce (No. 87) pre-snap before things changed.
“I was,” he recalled. “So, actually, a lot of the things we wanted to do in the first quarter were to try and give them man coverage looks. We gave them a ‘corners over’ look here, because when they see corners over, they will anticipate man coverage over the tight end. We looked like man here, but actually wound up playing zone. I’m giving Kelce a man look and then dropping back into zone … but that’s the dangerous thing about Patrick Mahomes, man. He was able to find holes in that zone coverage. We stopped them here on third-and-10, but they were able to convert on fourth down.”
The coverage underneath the single-safety look was interesting, so I asked Byard to break that down — which was my latest reminder that if you ever think football is simple, ask a professional to tell you what really goes on from a detail perspective.
“What happens here is, I’m playing flat to the left [Byard is the left flat defender], and my safety who’s in the post [Amari Hooker, No. 37] fills to the left. He’s showing middle of the field, but playing half-field, and the cornerback at the top [Adoree’ Jackson, No. 25] is playing what we call a ‘weave half’ — he’s playing the flat, but he’s actually the middle runner. Our two hook defenders [nearer the middle of the field] are trying to ‘play with eyes,’ trying to read the quarterback. Mahomes was able to complete the pass, but we were able to stop him short on this play.”
The next play was another where Byard showed man pre-snap and dropped back post-snap, and Mahomes hit Kelce in the void for a 4-yard gain. That drive ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill, Kansas City’s first points of the game, and the beginning of the deluge.
Later on that drive, Mahomes tried to hit Kelce in the end zone from the Tennessee 13-yard line. Byard was once again right over Kelce, this time in man coverage, and he did not agree with the defensive holding call he got on this play.
“I mean, I didn’t even know the referee threw the flag until they started calling it,” he said. “I thought it was a good coverage. We were in man on this play — post-man coverage. I think Kelce did a good job of dipping his shoulder. He’s just a really crafty guy when it comes to running routes. I thought I did a good job of contesting him, and I honestly didn’t know it was holding. We were both just fighting, but the way he runs his routes, he does a great job of being able to sell that contact so the referees can throw the flag.”
At this point, by any statistical measure or tape observation, Mahomes is as impossible to defend as any player in the NFL. How would Byard suggest the 49ers manage it in Super Bowl LIV?
“Get after Mahomes, that’s what I would say. [The 49ers] have a really great front four with all those first-round draft picks, so get after Patrick Mahomes, and do not let him play backyard football.”
That’s easier said than done, as is everything when dealing with the Chiefs’ offense at full strength. The possibilities are more hypothetical at times, and even the game’s top defenders — such as Byard, whom I ranked as the best at his position last June — can be left grasping at straws.
Touchdown Wire editor Doug Farrar previously covered football for Yahoo! Sports, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, the Washington Post, and Football Outsiders. His first book, “The Genius of Desperation,” a schematic history of professional football, was published by Triumph Books in 2018 and won the Professional Football Researchers Association’s Nelson Ross Award for “Outstanding recent achievement in pro football research and historiography.”
Analyzing 2020 Super Bowl prop betting odds and lines for the first half money line between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs.
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The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs meet at Super Bowl LIV on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET. Below, we analyze the betting odds and lines at BetMGM to see which side will be leading after the first half.
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People say that championships are decided in the second half but, leaving out the three first-half ties, the team with the lead going into halftime has a 38-12 record in the Super Bowl.
Throughout the season, the Chiefs have been a better first-half team:Kansas City has a +7.9 point differential compared to San Francisco’s +5.4 point differential. The Chiefs have a higher first-half possession share percentage at 49.5% versus 49ers’ 49.1%. Powered by offensive eruptions, the Chiefs have jumped out to a lead in the first half in three of their last four postseason games, scoring 21, 28 and 24 in those games. Also, the Chiefs have led going into halftime in 13 games, while the 49ers have led in 11 games after the first half.
However, where I give the 49ers the edge, is their ability to play balanced football and the Chiefs’ struggles against the ground game. Granted they did well against Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry in the AFC title game—giving up just 69 rushing yards on 19 attempts. However, they were 23rd in rushing yards allowed per game, 29th in yards per rush and the 29th-most efficient rush defense plus had the 28th ranked defensive line in adjusted line yards, according to FootballOutsiders.com.
Furthermore, I’m going to take a glass half empty approach to factoring the Chiefs’ postseason first-half leads into this handicap. While they’ve held the lead in three of their past four playoff games, the Chiefs have also fallen behind by double-digits in three of those first halves. Their defense is ranked 28th in first quarter points allowed, and the 49ers are ranked third in first quarter points scored. San Francisco’s second-ranked defense in points allowed in the second quarter (actually tied for second with the Chiefs) should help rein in the Chiefs trademark second quarter onslaught. So basically the 49ers should be able to jump out to an early lead and utilize the run game to hold that lead.
BET 49ERS (-106) ON THE FIRST HALF MONEY LINE.
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“He’s a true inspiration to a lot of us out here who really need that guidance or can understand the struggle.”
MIAMI — Spend a few minutes listening to Andy Reid talk about his team, his players, or his family and it’s easy to understand why every member of the Kansas City Chiefs absolutely loves their head coach and why they want nothing more than to watch him hoist the Lombardi Trophy high into the air on Sunday night.
Reid knows how to carry a room. He’s done it every day this week here in Miami while talking about how fun it is to work with Patrick Mahomes, or how excited he is for his players to compete in the Super Bowl, or how his numerous grandkids continue to keep him feeling both young and old at the same time.
It’s just special.
Travis Kelce, who could only smile this week while talking about “Big Red,” was one of a number of players to explain to me this week why he loves his coach so much. Kelce was also proud to share that a number of Reid’s former players have reached out to the star tight end since the AFC Championship Game to tell him how much they want the Chiefs to get Reid his first Super Bowl victory.
The Chiefs are in love with Big Red, for many reasons. And here they explain why:
Travis Kelce, TE
I love him for giving me a chance to play in the National Football League. I love him for the trust that he gives me out on the football field to find a way to help his team win. All I can do is go out there and play my tail of for him every single time. You gotta love (his) swagger, man. The shirts. He’s like a vet in the game when it comes to the sneakers – people don’t know. Hs’s had the Dads, the old Monarchs, and the Air Force 1’s on for years.
Frank Clark, LB
His heart. Coach Reid has a big heart. I’ve played for Pete Carroll and great coaches in college but coach Reid, his heart is like gold. He’s been through so much, he’s been through some stuff. Just dealing with his family and the things he’s had to overcome with his son – he’s a true inspiration to a lot of us out here who really need that guidance or can understand the struggle. Hats off to coach and everything he does for us. It’s the little things that people don’t understand what he does for us that gives us the extra edge.
There’s nothing more I want to do in this world than get coach his Super Bowl.
Patrick Mahomes, QB
(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
The love he has for the game, I mean it’s unmatched. With the work ethic and the time he puts in, but at the same time he’s able to enjoy every single minute of it and have fun doing it. So the way he’s able to relate to everyone and have a sense of humor but still be serious enough to get the best out of us is what’s gotten us here and is why we’re on this stage.
Tyreek Hill, WR
I love the fact that he’s always willing to listen to you no matter what. With my circumstances and what I went through I was able to talk to coach Reid after those things and he was honest and told me what he thought and gave me real life advice. Most guys don’t appreciate it, but I really appreciate coach Reid for being there for me.
Dustin Colquit, P
He’s a family man – I’ve got five kids, he’s got five kids. We have a lot of similarities in that aspect. He was a punter, which if I’m ever punting he’ll let me know every few years, ‘You know I was a punter, an All-City punter.’ And I’m like, “Oh yeah, I saw the Punt, Pass, and Kick(video)’ and he’ll kind of give you the look. He’s just a great man, somebody that is fun to play for which is why everyone wants to win for him because when you come into a system like his, not only do you thrive and want to come into work but he changes your life – that’s the easy way to say it. He changes the way you go about doing things and he always gives you a fresh perspective on how to approach something and so he kind of changes the way you go about your business as well.
Harrison Butker, K
I love his consistency.
One thing he always tells us is ‘I’ll never say anything negative to the media that I haven’t told you to your face first,’ I think that shows how much he cares about us. If we have a bad loss or something he’ll come in on Tuesday lighthearted, you know ‘We’re gonna learn from the film but we’ve moved on’ and he always has those one-liners that are so funny. Every meeting he has a one-liner that is really funny. It’s unique, it’s Andy Reid, it’s awesome and I love that about him.
Anthony “Sausage” Sherman, FB
I think it’s that he just treats us like men and that he has a great sense of humor. He keeps it alive and fun and young. For him to go out there and do the stuff that he does is phenomenal.
He calls me “sausage,” I think he comes up with a lot of food nicknames. His personality and his heart are the biggest things. He loves all of his players. He just has a great heart for the game and loves doing what he does.
I’m working on a piece on Chiefs players explaining what they love the most about Andy Reid and this from Anthony Sherman on why Reid calls him “sausage” is too good: pic.twitter.com/B032J64K8E
He’s just like a big mentor, a father figure, he has an authoritative way about him – and he does have a mean streak. He’s an intelligent coach but he’s a guy who you can always go and talk to about anything. That’s what makes coach Reid special. His door is always open and there is nothing too small or too big that you can’t talk about. He just embraces people and I think that’s what made him the lovable and respected coach that he is. If you’ve known him for years you’ll hear guys say the same exact thing about him – from his days when he coached in Green Bay to the days he coached in Philly – people love him. He just has that personality that everybody wants to be around.
Demarcus Robinson, WR
Just his personality and the way he connects with his guys. We love him. We want him to get this ring and get this trophy. I love being on this team with him.
He gives a lot of advice – I could go from coaching to just life lessons. He gives us lessons every day just watching him and being coached by him is a lesson to me. If you have anything to talk about you can go to his office and talk to him and he’s just a normal guy.
Matt Moore, Backup QB
Just his personality and the way he goes about every day. He cares about guys as people and players. He’s just a fun person and is fun to be around. He’s got a great way of motivating that you appreciate it. He’s just a good guy with a great personality. He’s got sound effects when he talks, he constantly has hand motions going and he’s just fun to be around.
“I would say that because of the attitude that he brings to the table, just the grit he brings into the trenches.
Rob Gronkowski made his decision on the best tight end right now.
The two candidates will be on opposite sides of the field in Super Bowl LIV — Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce and San Francisco 49ers’ George Kittle. Both tight ends are changing the game and they both have similar nuances on the field that Gronkowski carried. Kelce’s been in the league for seven years and Kittle’s in his third season.
Even though Kelce has more of a sample size to work with, Gronkowski will go with Kittle as his choice.
“Kittle, for sure,’’ Gronkowski said, according to Daniel Brown of The Athletic. “Because he just reminds me of myself a little bit with the way he plays the game.”
I see a little bit of me in both, but I would say I’m definitely more of a Kittle, hands down. I would say that because of the attitude that he brings to the table, just the grit he brings into the trenches.”
“Kittle, I mean he’s just an overall solid tight end, man. And he brings that passion to the game,’’ Gronkowski continued. “That’s what you love to watch. And when he catches that ball, man, you have to bring the whole defense at him. And you have to attack him hard because he doesn’t want to go down. He wants to score every single time.
“And that’s what fans love about him. And that’s what I love about him, too.”
Kittle put together a season with 85 catches, 1,053 yards and five touchdowns in 14 games this year. Kelce had 97 catches for 1,229 yards and five touchdowns in 16 games played this year.
It’s a very close debate and only time will tell who the more productive tight end is, but they still have some work to do to catch up to Gronkowski.
