By Bill Badour
Sunday, Feb. 2 was the 2020 Super Bowl. This match featured the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers.
To begin the game, the Chiefs received the kickoff and proceeded to go three-and-out. The Chiefs then punted to the 49ers who muffed the punt, but retained possession.
The 49ers marched down the field in 10 plays, covering 58 yards. The biggest play was a 32-yard run by Deebo Samuel. The drive ended with three points as Robbie Gould nailed a 38-yard field goal.
On the ensuing possession, the Chiefs made it all the way to San Francisco’s five-yard line. There, they were faced with a fourth-and-one. Forgoing the easy three points, the Chiefs opted to run the ball with running back Damien Williams, who pushed forward for four yards. Patrick Mahomes then ran it in one yard for the touchdown.
At the end of the opening quarter, the Chiefs led 7-3.
On the 49ers’ next possession, Jimmy Garoppolo threw an interception to Bashaud Breeland. This gave them the ball on their own 44-yard line.
After a few passes by Mahomes, the Chiefs yet again faced a fourth-and-one, this time from the 49ers’ 19-yard line. Once again, Williams got the first down with a gain of three yards. After only gaining two yards on the next three plays, the Chiefs chose to kick a field goal. The 31-yard kick by Harrison Butker extended the Chiefs’ lead to seven points.
However, Garoppolo answered back for the 49ers. Going 80 yards in seven plays, the 49ers scored a touchdown off of Garoppolo’s 15-yard strike to Kyle Juszczyk.
Neither team scored in the remaining five minutes of the first half. At halftime, the score was tied 10-10.
The 49ers got the ball to start the second half. They orchestrated a solid opening drive, but managed to stop short of getting into the red zone. Gould kicked the 42-yard field goal to put the 49ers on top 13-10.
On the following possession, Mahomes recovered the ball after he was stripped by Nick Bosa. However, on the next play, Mahomes was picked off by Fred Warner. The 49ers now had possession on their own 45-yard line.
Moving the ball down the field by both runs and passes, the 49ers reached the end zone yet again. The touchdown was scored off a one yard run by Raheem Mostert. The 49ers had extended their lead to double digits, with the score being 20-10.
The visibly frustrated Chiefs took over possession to begin the fourth quarter. The Chiefs were steadily moving the ball down the field and looking like they were ready to shrink their deficit. A Mahomes pass was picked off by Tarvarius Moore after being thrown behind Tyreek Hill. San Francisco took over the ball on their own 20-yard line.
The 49ers’ ensuing drive only gained 13 yards before they were forced to punt.
With less than nine minutes left in the game, the Chiefs’ offense hit its stride. On a third-and-15 from their own 35-yard line, Mahomes aired it out to Hill for a massive gain of 44 yards. After two plays of short gains, the 49ers were called for pass interference in the end zone on third down. This set up a play-action pass where Mahomes found Travis Kelce for the touchdown. The 49ers’ lead drastically shrunk, with the score now being 20-17.
On the 49ers’ possession they went three-and-out, taking less than a minute off the clock in the process.
With less than five minutes in the game and down three points, the Chiefs took over the ball on their own 35-yard line. They struck quickly as after a few short passes, Mahomes threw the ball to Sammy Watkins for a 38-yard gain. This put the threatening Chiefs 10 yards from the end zone.
After one run, Mahomes threw a swing pass to Williams to give the Chiefs the lead with less than three minutes left. Butker made the extra point to push the score to 24-20.
The 49ers had one last possession to drive down the field to win the game. After Chris Jones batted Garoppolo’s third down pass, the 49ers were already facing a fourth down on their own half of the field. Frank Clark sacked Garoppolo on fourth down, giving the Chiefs the ball back with less than 90 seconds left.
While running out the clock, Williams broke through the 49ers’ defense for a 38-yard touchdown. This last score iced the game, making the final score 31-20. Patrick Mahomes was named Super Bowl MVP as he helped give the Chiefs their first Super Bowl win in more than 50 years.