The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime in a Super Bowl unlike any other. Here’s a look at a few topics that will linger in the aftermath:
Best Super Bowl ever?
This Super Bowl will likely go down as one of the most memorable, given Taylor Swift’s involvement and the fact that it was in Las Vegas for the first time. Throw in Kansas City winning back-to-back titles — a rare accomplishment — and Patrick Mahomes’ late brilliance, and it was a classic.
But it wasn’t the most well-played game, with both teams losing big turnovers and neither offence really doing much until the end, when fatigue might have been a factor.
Best team ever?
It’s in play now for the Chiefs, who have reached four Super Bowls in five years and won three of them. Now they’ll go for something nobody — not Joe Montana’s 49ers or Tom Brady’s Patriots — has done. Kansas City can win a third consecutive Super Bowl.
That might seem unlikely, but so did this championship for most of the season. The Chiefs went the whole second half of the AFC championship game and the whole first half of the Super Bowl without a touchdown. If they could manage to win it all anyway, what does it take to beat them?
“Battling through the adversity that we went through this year, and the guys staying with the process, keeping believing,” Mahomes said. “You never know how it’s going to happen, and to be able to go play three great teams to get to this game and play another great team, and win all those games, it was a true road in the playoffs, and we were able to come through and be Super Bowl champs.”
Best QB ever?
Mahomes has a while to go before he can match Tom Brady’s longevity and career accomplishments, but he may have an even better resume than the New England quarterback did at the same age. Mahomes has three Super Bowl titles at age 28, and was the MVP in each of those wins. When he was 28, Brady had won three Super Bowls and been MVP for two.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes celebrates with the trophy after the team’s win in overtime during the NFL Super Bowl 58 football game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. The Chiefs won 25-22. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
But at that age, Brady hadn’t won any regular-season MVPs, and Mahomes already has two.
Best celebrity fan ever?
Taylor Swift’s fiercest loyalists might claim that she was the good luck charm that brought Kansas City another championship. Even if you’re not buying that, there’s no denying that her relationship with Travis Kelce added some buzz to what was a fairly drab regular season for the Chiefs.
Then they went on their postseason run, culminating in an almost perfect storm of sports and pop culture intersecting at the Super Bowl. Maybe Kelce and Swift will be back at the Super Bowl next year too, but the NFL and Chiefs fans shouldn’t take for granted the sequence of events that unfolded over the past few months.
Ashley Avignone, from right, Blake Lively, Taylor Swift and Ice Spice react in overtime during the NFL Super Bowl 58 football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. The Chiefs won 25-22. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Best host city ever?
Now we’re definitely in the realm of the subjective, but the first Super Bowl in Las Vegas was a hit among many fans — some of whom came to town even if they weren’t sure they’d be able to get into the game.
The demand for tickets made it clear how popular a site this was. And as sports leagues embrace Las Vegas more and more, it’s a question of when, not if, more events like this come to town.
Crushing loss
The 49ers were about as close to a championship as you can be without winning it, and coach Kyle Shanahan is still chasing a title after losing another Super Bowl. He’s been on the wrong end of the only two Super Bowls to go to overtime — this one and Super Bowl 51, which he lost as an offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons.
Shanahan is one of the game’s most influential offensive minds, but this wasn’t one of his masterpieces. The 49ers got 160 total yards from Christian McCaffrey, but two touchdowns and three field goals wasn’t enough for San Francisco to win. And Shanahan’s decision to take the ball first in overtime raised some eyebrows.
Meanwhile, Kansas City’s Andy Reid won his third Super Bowl title.
His finest hour?
What a career defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has put together. When he was with the 2007 New York Giants, he helped take down previously unbeaten New England in the Super Bowl. Now he’s won three titles with the Chiefs.
With Mahomes and the offence no longer lighting up opposing secondaries like in the past, the pressure was on Spagnuolo’s defence. It delivered, holding Lamar Jackson and Baltimore to 10 points in the AFC championship game and then keeping Kansas City in it against the 49ers until the offence got rolling late.
Usher shines
There was talk about whether Usher’s halftime show might be overshadowed by Swift’s presence in the crowd, but he delivered a set with several highlights, including appearances by Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Jermaine Dupri, Lil Jon and Ludacris.
Usher performs during the NFL Super Bowl 58 football game Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Luciano)
Bright future
MVP Lamar Jackson may have taken home the biggest prize at NFL Honors this week, but the Houston Texans look like a team to watch going forward. They swept the Rookie of the Year awards for offence and defence with quarterback C.J. Stroud and defensive lineman Will Anderson Jr.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
