Now that the two divisional championship games of the National Football League (NFL) have been played, the match up Superbowl LVIII is set. On Sunday, February 11th, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the San Francisco 49ers will meet in Las Vegas, both with hopes to be crowned champions.
Per NFL rules, each year the home team for the Superbowl alternates between conferences. This year, the AFC will get home team privileges, making it the Kansas City Chiefs. This year’s game will be played in Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ironically this stadium is home of the Las Vegas Raiders, rivals of the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs have been a dominant force in the American Football Conference (AFC) in the 2020s. Led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the team has made four Superbowl appearances in the last five years. In those last five appearances, they have won three times. Can the Chiefs repeat their success from last year and take home the Lombardi trophy?
On the other hand, the San Francisco 49ers are in a 29-year championship drought. The team is led by rookie quarterback, Brock Purdy, who works with the number two-ranked offense in the league. Purdy was nicknamed “Mr. Irrelevant” in the 2022 NFL draft and has spent this season with a chip on his shoulder. Can Purdy put this team on his back and take control of Mahomes and his dynasty?
In reality, no one can truly predict the outcome of this game, but some students on campus gave it their best shot. Twenty-four students were asked, “Who do you think will win the Superbowl?” 14 students predict the 49ers to be victorious while 10 believe it will be the Chiefs.
One of the students who is siding with the Chiefs for this competition is sophomore Colleen McGill, she said, “It will be a close game. The final score will be somewhere around 32-28 with the Chiefs on top.” McGill also had an interesting take on the game claiming, “It is going to be rigged for publicity.” Many conspiracies have been circling the internet that the NFL will rig the game to make the Chiefs victorious to please the Taylor Swift-motivated viewers. The NFL has made millions of dollars ever since the Swifties have tuned in to root for their new favorite superstar, Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce, starting tight end of the Chiefs. The big question is whether the NFL would truly go as far as to rig one of the biggest sporting events of the year just for publicity.
On the opposite end, junior Kevin Lazdowsky is putting all his faith in the San Francisco 49ers for the outcome of this game. “I think they will win because they have a better overall team, and they will have extra motivation since the Chiefs beat them a couple of years ago.” Lazdowsky is hoping to see the opposite result of the 2020 Superbowl where the Chiefs beat the 49ers 31-20. His final score prediction is 27-24 with the 49ers in the win column.
Superbowl LVIII is set to be an exciting match-up, let’s see if any of the Cougars’ predictions are deemed to be correct.