Super Bowl LIV Preview

Photo by Alaina Burris, Kylee Weber

The day is nigh, the day most Chiefs fan felt was inevitable since Patrick Mahomes II took over as Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterback. February 2, 2020: the Kansas City Chiefs will take on the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The Chiefs defeated the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Championship game, 35-24, while the 49ers took care of business against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game, 37-20. Ahead of the big game, The Campus’s sports section offered their predictions on this matchup, which has captivated Ottawa University and its hordes of Chiefs fans.

Jon Painter

Mahomes guides the Chiefs with his nimble feet and magical arm. As the focal point of head coach Andy Reid’s offense, Mahomes arm fires the lasers which seems to levitate into the arms of only Chiefs receivers. Mahomes has never thrown a postseason interception and look for that trend to continue in Super Bowl LIV despite facing a massive and fast 49ers defensive line. The Chiefs simply have too many weapons in their defense – which has drastically improved from last year – to not shut down the 49ers running attack. Mahomes and the Chiefs will light up the south Florida night and bring the Lombardi trophy back to Kansas City for the first time since 1970.

Kansas City 45 San Francisco 13

Brynden Grow

As a Packers fan, it was hard to watch the NFC Championship Game against San Francisco. With running back Raheem Mostert’s incredible rushing performance of 220 yards and four total touchdowns, it would seem like Mahomes’ Chiefs might be in trouble. People also thought the Titans’ running back Derrick Henry would play a factor, with great performances in the wild card and divisional round. I think the Chiefs will handle the 49ers’ running game better than Green Bay did. That said, the 49ers’ offense still has big scoring potential against any team they play. The Chiefs do too, as we saw in the divisional round against the Houston Texans, coming back from a 24 point deficit. This is the first time the Chiefs have been in the Super Bowl in 50 years and they have a legit shot at bringing the Lombardi trophy home. I see this game being high scoring with some big plays on defense that could change the course of the game at any given time. 

Kansas City 45 San Francisco 41

Dillon Johnson

The explosive Kansas City offense, the dominant San Francisco defense: the match up is set for Super Bowl LIV. This championship contains a unique, polar opposite match up between quarterbacks – the Chiefs, who rely so heavily on their Mahomes, facing off against the 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who threw just eight total passes in their last game. With a high flying offense and a dynamic run offense, this game is going to come down to defense. On paper the 49ers have a historical good defense, led by their defensive line and rookie edge rusher Nick Bosa. The Chiefs, who finished the season in the middle to the bottom of the pack in defense, have shown they can have a huge impact on games in pass rushing and turnovers. Led by safety Tyrann Mathieu and edge rusher Frank Clark, the Chiefs defense is capable of shutting down Garoppolo’s passing offense. With the game coming down to the defenses, the Chiefs have the most pressure; if they can not stop the run and get Mahomes the ball back the odds of them winning the Super Bowl are very low. With that, I believe the Chiefs defense will do just enough to keep the Chiefs’ offense on the field, ending in a nail biter gamer.

Kansas City 35 San Francisco 31