Super Bowl LVIII Pick: Lombardi, Ring, Repeat

The NFL’s premier event is finally upon us, Super Bowl LVIII, and the champion of the 2023 season will be crowned this Sunday night.  Let’s break down who the Super Bowl champion will be.

Here we go folks, that bittersweet time for every football fan. As much as Super Bowl Sunday is a celebration of the NFL’s championship, it’s also the culmination of another football season. Come Monday, it’s all over for actual NFL football for another eight months until it all starts over again. Eight long months. So before we talk draft and free agency for the New Orleans Saints, lets break down this final game of the season.

The AFC Champion Kansas City Chiefs face the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers in the biggest spectacle in American professional sports. Kansas City enters the game with a 11-6 record and they field the NFL’s second-ranked defense, while San Francisco enters the game with a 12-5 record and field the NFL’s second-ranked offense. It’s a battle of two of the top-three defenses in points allowed in the NFL, so expect to see a heavyweight bout in Vegas. Let’s now take a look at Super Bowl LVIII.

Two weeks ago I went 1-1

I told you so: 49ers over Lions!

What do I know: Ravens over Chiefs?

SUPER BOWL LVIII – Allegiant Stadium – Las Vegas, Nevada

AFC Champion – Kansas City Chiefs

vs

NFC Champion – San Francisco 49ers

Sunday, February 11th, 2024

3:30pm PST / 5:30pm CST / 6:30pm EST

CBS

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“Can Kyle Shanahan finally win the big one?”

The Kansas City Chiefs are looking for their third Super Bowl title in five years. Clearly, neither franchise is a stranger to the Super Bowl stage, having faced each other in Super Bowl LIV four years ago, while KC comes into this championship opportunity with core talent and coaching that won the Lombardi trophy last February. These Chiefs core players and coaches know the thrill of Super Bowl victory, but they also know the gut-wrenching sting of a demoralizing Super Bowl defeat, having suffered that feeling three years ago at Tampa.

For Kansas City, the road to repeat will be led by none other than Patrick Mahomes. This clearly comes as no surprise, but his talent at wide receiver is slightly diminished from the corps that won Super Bowl LVII last year, and greatly diminished from the group that won Super Bowl LIV against none other than San Francisco. Because of this, Travis Kelce will need to be the best player on this offense outside of Mahomes himself, and he will be.

Kansas City fields the very best defense San Francisco has faced all season in yards allowed, and slightly second to only Baltimore, who trounced the Niners, in points allowed per-game. Steve Spagnuolo’s defense has even severely underrated all season, and this is easily the very best defense Kansas City has fielded in the Andy Reid/Patrick Mahomes era. They will make the stops and the plays needed to make the Chiefs repeat champions.

For San Francisco, dealing with this Chiefs defense will be a difficult task, and they will need to lean primarily on their most dangerous weapon, Christian McCaffrey, who is making his debut on the NFL’s biggest stage. McCaffrey will need to carry an offense helmed by a young signal-caller in Brock Purdy. KC will be able to contain the Niners’ veteran weapons in Deebo Samuel and George Kittle, but McCaffrey is the wild card, along with the speed of Brandon Aiyuk on the outside.

The Niners defense is pretty spectacular themselves, a top-eight unit that ranks only behind Kansas City themselves in points allowed per-game. They have shown what it takes to be dominant this past season, but they have also shown a huge propensity to come out soft, and have looked like it since early December, especially two weeks ago against Detroit. They simply cannot afford to let Patrick Mahomes pick them apart for three quarters then try to lock it down in the end.

Andy Reid finally shed the reputation of the great head coach that can’t win the “big one”, when he beat Kyle Shanahan four years ago, and now it’s Shanahan’s chance to rewrite his story. He’s been so close to winning the title that has eluded him, and this may represent his best chance yet, but that chance isn’t good enough, as the transcendent Mahomes finds a way to win another Super Bowl thriller. The Kansas City Chiefs will leave Sin City with their third Lombardi Trophy in five years.

Super Bowl LVIII Champion: Kansas City Chiefs

Final Score: Chiefs 27 – 49ers 24

Super Bowl LVIII MVP: QB – Patrick Mahomes

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There you have it folks, another Super Bowl and another NFL season in the books. I can’t wait to get it started all over again. Let’s get ready for the march home to New Orleans, Louisiana for Super Bowl LIX. Now it’s your turn, leave us your final score and MVP picks in the comments section below!