So here’s my annual dive into the Super Bowl. My 58 thoughts following Super Bowl LVIII:
1. I’m not going to have 58 thoughts. I’m not sure I have 58 thoughts on anything besides why I’m not sure I want to live in a country where “Detroiters” was cancelled after two seasons and I’m expected to pretend like “Tracker” is a real thing. So I’ll just start and then we’ll skip to 58 whenever I run out of gas.
2. The Chiefs are zombies, man. It’s hard to explain. They’re not overwhelmingly better than everyone else. They’re just the hardest team to kill. It’s very Patriots-esque. Great head coach, great quarterback, future Hall of Fame pass-catcher and they’re battle tested. Nothing fazes them. They’re OK trailing in overtime. They’re OK when results don’t go their way in the regular season. They’re OK going on the road. Everything remains theirs to lose.
3. How far away are the Ravens? They lost by a touchdown when they were completely off their game. They have to climb this mountain in the postseason. Spare me the thought that they’re wildly far away.
4. By winning a third Super Bowl before his 29th birthday, the possibility of Patrick Mahomes one day surpassing Tom Brady’s accomplishments has to be considered. It’s still unlikely, but it was unlikely that he’d be here. It’s plausible.
5. Travis Kelce talked about the possibility of a three-peat on the dais after the Super Bowl win. That’s absolutely not impossible. The biggest issue facing them is that their top two defensive players — defensive lineman Chris Jones and defensive back L’Jarius Sneed — are both pending free agents. It’s not impossible both could be back, but losing either one could be a significant detriment to their hopes.
6. Congratulations to Owings Mills alum Donovan Smith (also a pending free agent) for winning his second career Super Bowl, his first ironically coming against the Chiefs as a member of the Buccaneers. Congratulations also to former Stevenson University quarterback Dan Williams, who wins his third career Super Bowl title as an assistant coach for the Chiefs. Williams currently serves as offensive quality control/assistant quarterbacks coach.
7. I don’t know that the 49ers did things “wrong,” per se. They seemed to have a good game plan. They rarely appeared panicked. Kyle Shanahan’s aggressive decision to go for it on fourth down late in regulation proved to be massive. The missed extra point was killer. They played well. The Chiefs just made a few more plays when they needed to do so.
8. There is room for fascinating debate about Shanahan’s decision to defer in overtime. We don’t have nearly enough data to know exactly what to make of the decision just yet. Shanahan’s explanation was sound. If both teams score, they get the first “next score wins” possession after that. It makes some sense. And perhaps after KC put together some late drives, the 49ers’ defense was gassed and needed the break.
But the Chiefs certainly benefitted from knowing they needed to go for it on fourth down during their overtime possession, whereas the 49ers felt they needed to kick a field goal because they couldn’t afford to not get points. Advantage: Chiefs. And if both teams score touchdowns, the team that gets the ball second could decide to go for two and end the game right there.
Me personally, I would want the ball second. But if the Chiefs had been held to a field goal, Shanahan might have looked like a genius.
9. Despite the loss, the 49ers are the early favorites to win Super Bowl LIX, followed by the Chiefs and Ravens. With the NFC still expected to be the weaker conference, this makes sense. Plus Brock Purdy’s cap hit remains at only $1 million and all of the primary offensive pieces are slated to return with him. Receiver Jauan Jennings is an exclusive rights free agent but should be back, too.
10. I thought Tony Romo was really great on the CBS broadcast of the Super Bowl. He’s had an up-and-down season but he diagnosed plays well, recognized bad decisions (like the Chiefs calling a timeout when they could have challenged if Travis Kelce picked up a first down), broke down what decisions might be ahead for the 49ers on fourth down ahead of third-down plays and how that might impact their decisions, etc. He was sharp. Greg Olsen was probably the best color man of the “lead” NFL crews this season (and his next move will be fascinating to follow this offseason), but Romo was great when the lights were shining their brightest.
11. With the Chiefs now locked into hosting the NFL’s first game of the season in 2024, there is a possibility that the Ravens are in play as an opponent. An AFC championship game rematch would be a blockbuster to open the year and certainly the best choice on paper, but the Chiefs are also set to host the Chargers, Bengals and Texans. All could make for compelling season openers as well. The Chargers offer Jim Harbaugh’s first game back in the NFL and Justin Herbert’s return from injury. The Bengals are one of only two teams to beat Mahomes in an AFC championship game and will have Joe Burrow back from injury. The Texans are potential Lions-like NFL darlings after their 2023 campaign.
12. If the Ravens aren’t the opponent for the first Thursday game of the season, my friend Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic points out that it also might make sense for the next “Harbowl” (John Harbaugh vs. Jim Harbaugh) to be on “Sunday Night Football” or “Monday Night Football” on that first weekend.
13. Usher was great. I thought his mistake was following Rihanna’s footsteps in trying smash far too many songs into a short time period. Usher performed 14 (!) during a 13-minute performance. It’s a shame he didn’t place greater significance on two or three of his more iconic hits and then pick three or four to offer snippets of. I realize that in 2024 we collectively have the attention span of a disease-riddled gnat, but I promise we’re willing to hang out for three minutes worth of an iconic song that we love. Prince taught us the appropriate way to halftime. Challenging that feels like a real “spitting in the face of God” type of situation.
14. Speaking of God, it was a big night for him in the commercials, no? The best one of the night (and there weren’t a ton of great ones) was the Reese’s Caramel Cup one. Simple, funny and well executed. Nailed it. You all seemed to like the “Dunkings” commercial, but you got suckered by a humorous premise. It failed to launch. The idea was funny. There was very little funny after that.
15. I don’t care that someone (Aaron Schatz of FTN Network) didn’t vote Lamar Jackson as MVP. I disagree. But the difference between being a two-time MVP and a two time unanimous MVP is … one word. It doesn’t get you free Cuban sandwiches for the rest of your life or anything like that. No one knows what anyone else’s voting percentage was in the history of the MVP award. Jackson won, which is the part that mattered.
16. It was neat that Jackson and Joe Flacco shared a moment at NFL Honors after Flacco won Comeback Player of the Year. And there was no better joke in the NFL this season than “Damar Hamlin came back from death and Joe Flacco came back from playing for the Jets, which is worse than death.” I don’t know who started it. If it was you, well done.
17. I think it’s crazy that Antonio Gates wasn’t part of this year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame class. But I also think that everyone who got in was tremendously deserving. I’m thankful that the voters FINALLY put a wide receiver (Andre Johnson) in because there is a remarkable logjam at the position that still needs to be further broken.
18. Ravens fans are already looking ahead to 2025, as former edge rusher Terrell Suggs and former offensive lineman Marshal Yanda are among the players eligible for the Hall of Fame for the first time. Both have remarkably strong cases, but competition for the five spots will be stiff. Gates, Torry Holt, Reggie Wayne, Jared Allen and Jahri Evans are among the holdovers. Other newcomers to the ballot include Luke Kuechly (seemingly a no-brainer), Eli Manning, Marshawn Lynch, Joe Staley, Earl Thomas and Adam Vinatieri. It’s a perilous path. I think one might get in, but the cases aren’t quite as open and shut as the franchise’s first three Hall of Famers (Jonathan Ogden, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed).
19. As we shift focus towards the offseason, the Ravens have early decisions to make about the franchise tag (presumably Justin Madubuike) and whether they can get deals done with any of their other free agents before the league year begins. They’ll also need to make decisions about possible restructures or releases for players like Ronnie Stanley, Patrick Ricard, Morgan Moses and Tyus Bowser.
20. Everything about the Ravens’ offseason will be clouded by the uncertainty surrounding Zay Flowers. We still know extremely little about the situation, so it’s difficult to comment on it. But as we discuss hypothetical decisions and what they might be looking for in the draft, we will have no choice but to give disclaimers like “if Zay Flowers is back” or “provided Zay Flowers isn’t gone.” It’s awful. But football is secondary to the seriousness of the situation.
21. OK, it’s time to skip ahead to 58 now.
58. For the new football fans that came along because of Taylor Swift, this is going to be a difficult week for you. It’s the worst time of the year. Nothing can replace the high of football. We’ll pretend to care about other sports from time to time, but nothing fills the void. We’ll get into the NBA when the season approaches its crescendo. But truth be told, unless our favorite team is involved, we’re kind of faking it. We don’t really remember which teams were in the conference finals last year. We might not even remember who the other team was in the NBA Finals. We’ll get into college basketball for a couple of days in March, but that’ll go away after we pick James Madison to make a stunning Final Four run and then they lose in Round 1.
Nothing will fill the void. In cities with real baseball teams (like Baltimore), that will go a long way to replacing the emptiness. In sad baseball cities where the teams are awful and there’s no hope (like Boston), the despair will be seemingly never-ending. Football will come back one day. And for three days in April, we’ll listen to the names of football players being read aloud and it will be a drug sweeter than anything we’ve ever known.