Last season’s Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs are the AFC contenders in Super Bowl LV after defeating the Buffalo Bills 38-24 at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday 24th January.
The Chiefs are tipped to repeat last season’s feat and lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the second season in a row.
Path to the Super Bowl
The Chiefs come into this year’s Super Bowl on the back of a franchise-record 14-2 season, earning them the number one seed in the AFC.
In week 12 of the regular season, the Chiefs met their Super Bowl LV opponents, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Raymond James Stadium, the very stadium they will be playing at this Sunday.
The Chiefs recorded a 27-24 victory and their superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for a season-best 462 yards, a potentially worrying stat if you’re a Buccaneers fan.
In the playoffs, after their wild-card bye week, the Chiefs faced the Cleveland Browns in the Divisional Round and were given a scare when Mahomes suffered a head injury and appeared to be concussed.
His replacement Chad Henne proved to be an able deputy and the Chiefs won 22-17, earning them yet another home tie in the AFC Championship game.
This game was more comfortable for the Chiefs as they won 38-24 against the Bills and advanced to their second consecutive Super Bowl.
The Coach – Andy Reid
Andy Reid has been the Chiefs head coach since 2013 and in that time, he has achieved large amounts of success, making the playoffs in seven of the eight seasons he’s been with the team.
In 2018, Reid led the Chiefs to their first home AFC Championship game in franchise history, only to be beaten 37-31 in overtime by the New England Patriots, led by current Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady.
2019 was Reid’s most successful year as Chiefs coach, lifting the Vince Lombardi Trophy after defeating the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 in Super Bowl LIV.
Reid is the only coach in NFL history to have reached three consecutive conference championship matches with two different teams, the Philadelphia Eagles from 2001-2004 and the Chiefs from 2018-2020.
Offence
The Chiefs have the sixth-ranked offence in the NFL this season, but with Mahomes at the helm they have the number one passing offence.
Mahomes, at just 25, already has a CV most players could only dream of and he is obviously critical to both how the Chiefs offence plays and whether the Chiefs are victorious on Sunday.
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce are two other players who are vital for the Chiefs offence.
Both were selected as first-team all-pros, and they have 17 and 14 touchdowns respectively.
Only Davante Adams has more receiving touchdowns than Hill, and no tight end has more touchdowns than Kelce, who also had the second-most receiving yards in the NFL in the regular season.
If the Buccaneers are to stop the scoring machine that is the Chiefs, they will have to get to Mahomes early and try to prevent him from linking up with his two all-pro targets.
Defence
The Chiefs have the 11th ranked defence in the NFL but they have proven in the last couple of games that they are more than capable of causing serious harm to any offence.
Defensive tackle Chris Jones will be the main pass rusher looking to disrupt Tom Brady and his Bucs offence, Jones has 7.5 sacks for the season and will be hoping he can be as destructive as possible on Sunday.
In coverage, safety Tyrann Mathieu will be looking to add to his career-high six interceptions this season, including one returned for a touchdown and one in the Divisional Round win against the Browns.
However, he will have his work cut out against the Super Bowl veteran Brady.
If the Chiefs’ defence can cause Brady any sort of trouble, it could be a very tough evening for his Buccaneers.
You can read about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers here.
Featured image credit: Conman33 under CC 3.0 license
