Buccaneers are Super Bowl Champs; Tampa the New Titletown

How sweet it is. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the defending champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-9, in Super Bowl LV. This is Tampa’s second Super Bowl in franchise history.

Bucs finish the season on an eight-game win streak, avenging their last loss, which was against the Chiefs back in week twelve.

This is the 14th occurrence where teams have faced each other in the regular season and the super bowl in the same season. The team that won the regular-season game is 6-8 in the Super Bowl game.

Tampa was the first team with four 30-point games in a postseason and the first team to beat three Super Bowl MVP quarterbacks in a postseason (Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees).

GET LIVE 🤠 pic.twitter.com/SnoAvejvDp

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) February 8, 2021

How did they get here?

• Went to Washington and defeated the Football Team with a top-five defense and a spunky young QB in Taylor Heinicke.
• Went to the Super Dome to face the New Orleans Saints, who they lost to twice in the regular season and forced Drew Brees to throw three interceptions.
• And finally, they went to the frozen tundra at Lambeau Field and beat the MVP in his own backyard.
• All of those road games to host the defending champions for the Super Bowl and beat them down.

Defense wins championships

Credit to Todd Bowles and his defense. They played a legendary game against a dynasty-like offense. Devin White sounds off the coach for having them so prepared to face this offense.

White and (Lavonte) David combined for 18 tackles, two for losses and three passes deflected.

The Chiefs offensive line couldn’t handle the Bucs pressure. Mahomes was pressured on 29 dropbacks, a super bowl record. Mahomes also ran for a total of 497 yards before getting sacked or throwing the ball, per NFL next Gen Stats.

This was Patrick Mahomes worst game of his career. First time in his NFL career as a starter that he was held to under double digits and no touchdowns. This was also Mahomes first time since at least high school as a starter, his offense didn’t find the endzone.

Mahomes was 26-49 for 270 yards and two interceptions. 17 of those completions were to Kelce and Hill. If you recall last time the Bucs faced the Chiefs in week 12, Hill had 269 yards receiving. This game, the Bucs neutralized any deep balls for Hill and allowed the offense to run through just Kelce who wasn’t getting open quicker than the pass rush was getting to Mahomes.

The Brady Bowl

Tom Brady only threw for 201 yards but for the most part, he was flawless. He still threw three touchdowns with a 72% completion rate. He clearly had too much time to study the Chiefs’ defense because he picked them apart, effortlessly. It helps to have an effective ground game with Jones and Fournette combining for 150 yards.

Here are some incredible Brady Super Bowl Stats

• He is 7-3 in Super Bowls.
• Five of those seven wins, he won MVP, an NFL record.
• He now has more Super Bowls than any franchise.
• First NFL player to win a Super Bowl in three different decades.

Not only did Brady play well but he had his team in the right mindset to win the whole time.

Leonard Fournette said all week long, Tom Brady was texting everyone at 11:00 at night saying, "We WILL win."

— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) February 8, 2021

With the Lightning winning the Stanley Cup and Rays going to the World Series, it looks like there could be a new Titletown brewing in Tampa Bay.