By: Will Hopkins

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in Super Bowl LV, giving the city of Tampa Bay its second professional sports championship in just the last half-year. It was a dominant performance by the Tampa defense, keeping the high-powered Chiefs offense out of the endzone for 60 minutes, an incredibly impeccable feat. The defensive line had Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes running like a chicken with his head cut off all night long. He had no time in the pocket and had to bail quickly in an attempt to make some spectacular plays.  Under the circumstances, Mahomes did well at times to even get a throw off but just couldn’t connect with his receivers as he normally does. Tampa’s defensive coordinator, Todd Bowles deserves a lot of credit, but the pass rush of the Bucs used their skills to take advantage of a depleted Chiefs offensive line, nonetheless. 

On the offensive side of the ball, Tampa Bay played a clean game, not turning over the football and scoring on four drives in a row in the middle part of the game to take a strangle hold of the Super Bowl. Tom Brady had a strong connection with his long-time pass-catching partner, Rob Gronkowski, who snagged two of Brady’s three touchdown passes on the evening. These two players had just joined the Bucs this offseason, as had running back Leonard Fournette, who shined with 135 yards from scrimmage. It was a balanced attack, and per usual, the man at the helm of the offense was named Super Bowl MVP, as Brady earned his fifth award of the like in his seventh Super Bowl win. 

Although the Chiefs were considered the favorites to repeat as champs all year, it really came down to dominance in the trenches. The Bucs won the line of scrimmage with their offensive and defensive lines. Unlike the Chiefs, the Buccaneers took care of the ball and limited their penalties. Nobody knows exactly what this Buccaneers team would have accomplished had they not signed Tom Brady and several other players, including two of his friends, thereafter, but his impact on a football team, an organization, and even the league’s landscape as a whole is clearer than ever, looking at the regression of his former team, the New England Patriots, and the emergence of his new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to the point of Super Bowl champs.