Niners fans, read this article at your own risk, you may be offended. The San Francisco 49ers were predicted to win the Super Bowl, but oh how wrong they were to think that they would beat the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs reigned victorious by 11 points with a score of 31-20, showing 49ers fans that they had chosen the wrong team to root for. I, however, had the insight to support the Chiefs, the honorary team of my family from the midwest. Even though the Chiefs aren’t near our area, plenty of Philadelphia fans hopped the bandwagon, supporting Andy Reid, the former Eagles coach and current Chiefs coach. To be fair, the Niners never had a chance, the Chiefs hadn’t won a Super Bowl game in 50 years and both the team and the fans were hungry for a win.
The 49ers were the first to score with a field goal, but the Chiefs soon overtook them with a touchdown with just 31 seconds left in the first quarter. Soon, however, the Niners took the lead with a touchdown, only to be returned with a field goal from the Chiefs. The score was 10-10 at the half and I was stressed to say the least, watching J-Lo and Shakira in the halftime show as a distraction from the amount of pent-up anxiety I felt.
Throughout the game, my parents and I screamed at the TV, jumping up and cheering when Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw a 44-yard-long pass into the arms of wide receiver Tyreek Hill, a play that led the Chiefs to another touchdown and saved the team from defeat. And I can shamelessly say that we heckled the 49ers to no end, criticising every mistake they made, no matter how small.
It was the fourth quarter, and the Chiefs had pulled ahead with some effort, their leg up on the 49ers a relief to me and my fellow fans. The score had the Chiefs up by 11 points, and the amount of time left on the clock showed that the 49ers had no chance of winning. I was relieved and thrilled.
Then something strange happened: I started to actually feel bad for the 49ers, something that I didn’t think was possible. Each team was putting an effort in to use up their remaining timeouts, just delaying the Chiefs’ inevitable win. The cameras zoomed in to the 49ers’ defeated faces, their heads hanging in shame. Seconds later, the cameras panned over to the Chiefs’ players who were obviously elated to finally win a Super Bowl. While looking at the teams’ different facial expressions I was torn between feeling jubilant or dejected.
I knew what it felt like to be on that side with the sorrowful faces, the game almost too painful to watch, knowing full well that there was no hope. But, I’ve also been on the side that is prevailing, just being ecstatic that your team is absolutely obliterating their rivals. So I just stared at the TV, feigning my glee, while inside I felt a twinge of guilt.
My conflicted feelings only lasted for about 30 seconds, however, before I was back to cheering for the Chiefs and insulting the 49ers with the rest of my family. They deserved to win, and nobody can convince me otherwise.
Overall, Super Bowl LIV was a game full of twists and turns, ups and downs, and an amazing game overall. Both teams deserved to be there, and in the grand scheme of things, scores are just numbers on a — oh, who am I kidding? GO CHIEFS!
