The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22, in only the second Super Bowl to go to overtime. The game is the longest Super Bowl played and the highest viewed across the world, with 123.4 million tuning in. The game served as a rematch of Super Bowl 54 just four years ago, and saw a familiar outcome.
Here’s how Super Bowl LVIII played out:
The game opened with a scoreless first quarter and a 49ers’ turnover on the first drive. Their running back Christian McCaffrey fumbled and lost the ball only 27 yards away from the end zone. The rest of the quarter saw three punts and two first downs. 49ers’ kicker Jake Moody began the second quarter with his first of three field goals during the game. His kick was good from 55 yards and served as a new Super Bowl record, but only temporarily. A fumble by Chiefs’ running back Isaiah Pacheco gave his team the first of its two turnovers during the game.
Despite his earlier turnover, McCaffrey caught a touchdown pass thrown by 49ers’ wide receiver Jauan Jennings in the second quarter. He went on to finish the game with 160 total offensive yards, split evenly between rushing and passing. Kicker Harrison Butker got the Chiefs on the scoring sheet with 20 seconds left in the half, knocking back his first of four field goals. At halftime, the score was 10-3 San Francisco.
A halftime performance by Usher seemed to give each team plenty of energy entering the second half, as the game became far more competitive. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes opened the half with an interception for his Chiefs side. Despite this, he still earned MVP completing 333 passing yards and two touchdown passes. With five minutes in the third quarter, Butker set a new Super Bowl record for farthest field goal, smashing it home from 57 yards and breaking Moody’s record set earlier in the evening. By the end of the quarter, the Chiefs had taken the lead with the help of an end zone catch by wide receiver Marquez Valdes Scantling. They led 13-10.
Jennings earned another touchdown for San Francisco to start the final quarter after a caught pass from quarterback Brock Purdy. That was Purdy’s lone touchdown pass as he finished the day with 255 passing yards. San Francisco was unable to make the most of its touchdown however, as Moody missed the extra point. Another 49er’s field goal and two more from Butker saw the game tied at 19 after four quarters. Overtime was upon Las Vegas.
The 49ers’ managed to take the ball down the field 76 yards on their opening drive of overtime, but failed to reach the end zone. They settled for a field goal, meaning all the Chiefs had to do to earn another Lombardi was score a touchdown. After converting a crucial fourth down on their overtime drive, the Chiefs never looked back. From there, Mahomes was able to guide his troops to the end zone with ease, as he found wide receiver Mecole Hardman for the winning pass.
Each side played a fairly even game, with the Chiefs earning 24 first downs to the 49ers’ 23. Both teams had two turnovers and completed their lone fourth down attempt. The 49ers held the ball two minutes longer than Kansas City, but earned 67 less total offensive yards. They also converted only three third downs, while Kansas City completed nine. Both sides had six penalties, with the Chiefs being pushed back 15 more yards.
At the end of the day, there may have been plenty of factors contributing to the Chiefs’ victory, but it almost seemed like it was always going to be them who earned the league’s top prize.
