Super Bowl LIX disappointed many NFL fans because the two teams made it to the championship game. A week prior, in the AFC Championship game, the Kansas City Chiefs barely beat the Buffalo Bills, who were favored by many, in a close score of 32-29. On the other hand, the Philadelphia Eagles easily took down the Washington Commanders, a new favorite by many in the DMV and around the country, by a score of 55-23, officially naming them the NFC Champions.
Many RM students have expressed frustration and annoyance with this year’s Super Bowl teams, which was a repeat of a Super Bowl two years prior. “Most people seemed to be bored by the Eagles and the Chiefs, given they both played [before],” senior Takumi Gerhartz said. “Most people are very narrative driven in who they root for and neither team had a really interesting narrative that made people want to root for them.”
Despite the massive amount of feedback from NFL fans nationwide and on the internet, history was made after a record was broken during Super Bowl LIX. According to FOX Sports, “The 127.7 million viewers set a new all-time high mark for Super Bowl viewership (up +3% vs. 123.7 million viewers last year) featuring fans across all platforms, including television (FOX, FOX Deportes and Telemundo) and digital (Tubi and NFL digital properties, including NFL+).”
During the 1st quarter of the game, Philadelphia scored first on their legendary play call famously named the “Tush Push” by many commentators. Going into the 2nd quarter, many would expect Kansas City to respond like they usually had during the regular season, especially with a healthy offense to move the ball. However, the Chiefs either repeatedly had to punt on 4th down, and had multiple turnovers, limiting their opportunities to get on the scoreboard.
Amid the Chiefs’ struggle after 2 back-to-back sacks in the 2nd Quarter, Patrick Mahomes underthrew the football, landing it into the hands of rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean, who took it back roughly 40 yards for a pick-six. Most NFL fans were shocked when this occurred, believing that the true colors of the Kansas City Chiefs were starting to show after a long regular season. “The Cooper DeJean pick-six is a play that’ll never forget, my house was going crazy when he scored, and after that play is when I realized that we could actually win the Super Bowl.” Freshman Eagles fan Issac Fulton said.
Although some people tuned out of the Super Bowl due to the teams that were playing, many were intrigued by the Apple Music Halftime Show performed by rapper Kendrick Lamar. Many were speculating an interesting message to Drake, someone whom Kendrick Lamar has had personal issues with. “As someone who was invested in the beef from the first day on Kendrick’s side, it was vindicating to see him definitively ‘win’ the beef in front of the country,” said Gerhartz.
Others weren’t super fascinated by Kendrick’s performance, hoping to see a better halftime show from the Grammy award-winning artist. Junior Graham Hester said, “I didn’t really enjoy the songs in the halftime show. Squabble Up isn’t a very good song, he could’ve performed his other popular songs like Money Trees or ELEMENT.”
In the end, the Chiefs fell short to the Eagles losing 40-22, officially giving Philadelphia the Lombardi Trophy and a Super Bowl victory.
