Sunday’s Super Bowl Recap and Memories From 50 Years Ago
Fifty years ago this past weekend, I approached the entrance to ancient Tulane Stadium in New Orleans under overcast skies with my buddy from Brooklyn, looking forward to the playing of Super Bowl IV between the Minnesota Vikings and the Kansas City Chiefs.
The stunning surprise the prior year featuring Joe Namath and the New York Jets victory over the Baltimore Colts was still ringing in the ears of the football world. For the upstart American Football League to shock the rock-solid, established National Football League was unthinkable. But it happened.
The question now, was would things go back to normal? Would the dramatic Jets triumph be a one-shot deal?
Would it return to business as usual in professional football? Would the NFL quickly return to the game being dominated by the teams we all had identified for decades?
It didn’t take long for reality to set in. The game proved more one-sided than the year before. The AFL Chiefs, unleashing a more wide-open attack against a solid Viking defense, and a stifling, innovative defense, controlled the Super Bowl and made it clear, the game had changed. The AFL was here to stay.
The Chiefs, who had lost to Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers in the first Super Bowl, called the AFL-NFL Championship Game, had now played in two of the first four, winning the battle in New Orleans. They looked like a franchise that would make it a habit of playing in the big game.
It didn’t turn out that way.
Mahomes lifts Lombardi Trophy
A bit of irony that we we able to witness Super Bowl 54 in Miami, attending as fans, watching the Chiefs participate in their first Super Bowl since that cloudy day in the Bayou, 50 years ago. Ultimately, the Chiefs would come through as they did in 1970.
But it didn’t appear it would happen this time.
In fact, the 49ers were well on their way, with a 20-10 lead with a little over seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs wunderkind quarterback was off on his game. Things were generally not clicking for KC and it seemed against a strong 49ers defense, it simply wasn’t going to happen for the AFC champs.
But we’ve seen this movie before, haven’t we?
The game, for the Chiefs, seemed to jump from one of the lowest moments to one of the highest points in an instant.
A routine pass to Tyreek Hill was ruled complete, then reversed on a coach’s challenge, bringing up 3rd and 15 from the KC 35.
Down-and-distance as well as the clock were working against the Chiefs.
On the next play Mahomes floated a pass to Hill who looked like he was simply loitering downfield deep into 49er territory.
The play was 44-yards, the longest of the game for either team and gave the trailing Chiefs new life.
In a snap of a finger, the Chiefs scored a touchdown a minute later, and reduced the game to a three-point deficit.
Then another turning point. Instead of running the clock by running the ball, Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers head coach and offensive play-caller dialed up two straight pass plays, using little clock and creating a quick three downs and punt, giving the Chiefs, and Mahomes another chance, with comfortable time on the clock.
Mahomes was revived, as we saw in two previous playoff games.
The Chiefs rallied after trailing 24-0 against the Texans, then came back after falling behind 17-7 against the Titans.
But those deficits were in the first half. This one, was deep into the fourth quarter.
We should have known.
Patrick Mahomes is relentless. Well deserved as Most Valuable Player.
Remember when young quarterbacks had to sit for five years before they were ready to start?
They couldn’t be rushed, in case they suffered setbacks which would affect their confidence.
That’s all a joke now.
What we’ve witnessed is a 24-year old quarterback who throws critical interceptions, and comes right back firing. Maybe, one of the big changes in the NFL, and apparently in all pro sports, is that young players have no fear. They are undaunted, regardless of any lack of experience, or pressure.
I think it’s the way of the world now in sports. And it’s great to see.
Shanahan, meanwhile, continued to abandon the running game, and after another three plays and punt, the game unraveled for the 49ers who were seemingly on their way to winning.
It brought back the recent memory when Kyle Shanahan, then, calling plays for the Atlanta Falcons, was unable to nail down what was a huge 28-3 halftime lead against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 51.
Kyle Shanahan
The Patriots rallied and won in overtime, and Shanahan’s decision to pass more and not play the percentages with the big lead was a big factor in the final result.
So Shanahan continues to be saddled by his play-calling decisions in two of the past four Super Bowls.
The 49ers may appeared to have missed an opportunity in the waning seconds of the first half when Shanahan failed to call a time out or two and press for a chance at a field goal try that would have given them a three-point lead at intermission.
He played it safe and the Niners settled for a 10-10 tie.
It proved puzzling.
I remember when Andy Reid, who lost a Super Bowl to the Patriots in 2005, was accused of not being a very good manager of strategy in the fourth quarter of significant games.
Reid was the one of the big stories of last week’s championship.
In leading the Chiefs to the title, Andy Reid, finally won as Super Bowl.
Andy Reid
He is the sixth all-time winning coach, but the big one had eluded the big guy until last Sunday.
It was a fitting moment for Reid who has suffered great personal loss with the death of one of his sons to suicide by virtue of drug overdose in 2012.
One of his other sons, Britt, who had spent time in prison, has rebounded and has been his father’s linebackers coach.
Why are we constantly bombarded by negatives?
We hear too much of what people CAN’T do.
It shouldn’t be the case in every day life, and particularly in the world of professional sports where we watch the very best at what they do.
Andy Reid became a pretty good game manager didn’t he?
The fact is he was never bad at it.
And Kyle Shanahan will win at least one Super Bowl. And he will call the plays that get it done.
Why? Because he’s actually very good at it.
And while we’re on the subject, I realize there were a couple of officials’ calls in the Super Bowl that can be debated.
A few of them went against the 49ers.
There are fans who will say they cost San Fran the game.
Truthfully, having been around sports for decades, players and coaches may vehemently protest calls they believe are unfair, but they never blame them for a loss.
They know better. They know officials rulings are part of the game. And they know of the many other aspects to that game in which they could have performed better to pull out a victory.
The losers lament never comes out of the mouths who play and coach.
That’s a fact.
That winds up the NFL playing season.
Maybe I’ll wait another 50 years to attend a Super Bowl to see whether the Chiefs win another.
We’ll see.
Better than 50 years ago!
Pictured at Sunday’s Super Bowl with my wife, Jamie.
