Super Bowl Sunday: It’s when millions of Americans and viewers from around the world gather to watch the NFL season finale. Some may watch for the commercials, some for the halftime show, or in the case of this year, some may watch for Taylor Swift. Whatever reason you watch for it is always an amazing day filled with great food, friends, and of course football. This year’s Super Bowl features the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. The Chiefs have won 3 Super Bowls in their team’s history with the most recent coming after the 2022-23 season last year. The Chiefs will look to go back-to-back with a victory in this year’s Super Bowl. As for the 49ers, they have won five Super Bowls in their team history with the last coming after the 1994-95 season. With a win in this year’s Super Bowl, the 49ers franchise would tie the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers as the franchises with the most Super Bowl victories at six.
Super Bowl 58 will take place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 11th, 2024. The current lines for this game give a slight edge to the 49ers as they are favored by (-2) on most sportsbooks. This game will be a showdown between the two-time MVP Patrick Mahomes, and second-year player Brock Purdy. On paper, the 49ers look like the stronger team because they have few holes. On offense, they have stars like Purdy, Christian McCaffery, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, and Trent Williams. The 49ers offense had the second-highest-scoring offense in the NFL this season averaging 28.9 PPG throughout the regular season. On defense, the 49ers have stars like Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, and Chase Young. The 49ers were third in the league this year in defensive PPG allowed with 17.5.
On the other hand, looking at the Chiefs there is no shortage of star power either. On offense, they have arguably the best player in the league in Patrick Mahomes, as well as other stars in Travis Kelce, Isaiah Pacheco, and rookie wide receiver Rashee Rice. During the regular season, the Chiefs offense wasn’t clicking as they led the league with 26 drops during the regular season. Their offensive ranking in terms of PPG was 15th as they only averaged 22.1 in the regular season. On defense, the Chiefs are led by all-pro defensive tackle Chris Jones along with other stars such as L’Jarius Sneed and Nick Bolton. The Chiefs were second in PPG allowed with 16.8 per game on average.
With all this being said, anything can happen in the playoffs and the Chiefs are the best example of a team that should never be counted out. The Chiefs were underdogs against the Ravens and the Bills but they came out with victories against both teams. In Super Bowl 58, the Kansas City Chiefs will defeat the San Francisco 49ers with a score of 24-21 with Patrick Mahomes winning Super Bowl MVP. While it would be fascinating to see Brock Purdy aka “Mr. Irrelevant” win a Super Bowl after being picked last in the 2022 NFL Draft, he just won’t be able to come through when it matters most. This is the first Super Bowl Purdy has been to and it’s just his second NFL season, therefore, his lack of experience will cause him to come up short against the great Patrick Mahomes.
The NFL Most Valuable Player award will go to Lamar Jackson. I don’t think there is much debate on this as Jackson separated himself from the pack by closing out the regular season in spectacular fashion. Despite his latest postseason disappointment, Jackson led the Baltimore Ravens to the AFC’s No. 1 with a league-best 13-4 regular season record. He finished with 3,678 passing yards and 24 passing touchdowns while running for 821 yards and five scores.
The Defensive Player of the Year race is extremely tight, and it’s likely to result in controversy no matter who wins. TJ Watt will take home the award as he had 48 solo tackles, 20 assists, 19.0 sacks, 3 fumble recoveries, and 1 interception in 17 games in 2023. Myles Garrett also had a great year and most certainly could win the award, but I think Watt gets the edge over Garrett.
The Offensive Player of the Year award is going to San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey finished the 2023 season with 2,023 yards from scrimmage and 21 total touchdowns. After the unbelievable season he had he is sure to win the award.
Offensive Rookie of the Year is arguably the tightest of all the awards and much like Defensive Player of the Year will result in controversy either way. CJ Stroud will take home the hardware as he threw for 4,108 passing yards, and 23 passing touchdowns and took a team that was 3-13 in 2022 to a record of 10-7 this year which was good enough to win the AFC South. Puka Nacua broke the rookie receiving record in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns, so he had an unbelievable year as well, but Stroud simply had too strong of a year to not win this award.
It will be a clean sweep of the Rookie of the Year Awards for the Houston Texans as the Defensive Rookie of the Year award will go to Will Anderson Jr. He had 29 tackles, 16 assists, and seven sacks during the 2023 season which will put him in position to win the award.
Damar Hamlin will win Comeback Player of the Year for his incredible comeback story after suffering a cardiac arrest last season against the Cincinnati Bengals. Still, Joe Flacco deserves credit for coming off of the couch in Week 13 and leading the Cleveland Browns to the postseason with a 4-1 record in his five regular season starts.
NFL Coach of the Year is tricky because there are so many worthy candidates. Dan Campbell led the Detroit Lions to their first divisional title in 30 years and their first NFC Championship Game in franchise history. That deserves praise, as does DeMeco Ryans’ incredible season with the Houston Texans. Stefanski, however, led the Cleveland Browns to an 11-5 record and a wild-card playoff berth in a competitive division. He did it despite losing quarterback Deshaun Watson and running back Nick Chubb for the season. The Browns are the first team in NFL history to win ten-plus games with four different starting quarterbacks. This is why Kevin Stefanski will be the one to take home the award.
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