Carmen Vitali
NFC North Reporter
The Kansas City Chiefs have been here before.
In fact, they were here last year.
Well, not here in Las Vegas, but here in the Super Bowl. They won it last season in Phoenix, besting the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 38-35. Kansas City now has a chance to win back-to-back championships, becoming the first team since the 2003 and 2004 New England Patriots to do so.
All that stands in their way is a familiar opponent: the San Francisco 49ers.
The Chiefs beat the Niners in Super Bowl LIV. But that was four years ago. These teams are completely different save for a couple of key individuals.
Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
They hold the key to winning this Sunday.
Kansas City has appeared in four of the past five Super Bowls, and so have those key three. This has become an almost annual tradition and it shows. On Opening Night of Super Bowl LVIII, the Chiefs looked comfortable, handling the chaos with a calm that only experience can provide.
By contrast, the 49ers had a bit of nervous energy. It’s been four years since they were here and they came up short that time.
Reid and Mahomes together in the postseason is a hard duo to bet against. Despite this not being the type of regular season fans have come to expect from the Chiefs — they went 11-6 — Kansas City found another gear in the postseason like they always do. It took a while to figure out how to make it work with an average receiver corps that had the most drops in the NFL of any team. It took a bit for a second-year running back in Isiah Pacheco to come on consistently. It took some time for Reid to evolve his system yet again to fit what his roster could do.
But it happened, and the Chiefs are right back in the big game.
Mahomes (not Purdy) named ‘checkdown king’ ahead of Super Bowl LVIII
The key now is for Reid, Mahomes and Kelce to be themselves.
They’ve had two weeks to prepare for this game….
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/chiefs-path-to-winning-super-bowl-lviii-lean-on-mahomes-kelce-connection
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Publish date : 2024-02-09 20:55:53
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