The Super Bowl is the most-watched annual American sporting event, and it has grown to take on a unique place in popular culture. This season’s NFL championship game features a clash of generations at quarterback—with the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs led by 25-year-old dynamo Patrick Mahomes, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers directed by Tom Brady in his 10th Super Bowl appearance. Kansas City can become the ninth team to repeat as Super Bowl champions after winning last year, and become the first since the New England Patriots won back-to-back Super Bowls in 2004 and 2005. Brady can further cement his status as the greatest signal-caller of all time by winning his seventh Super Bowl title and first with Tampa Bay—no other quarterback has won more than four, and no player has had 10 Super Bowl appearances.

Dylan Grausz, Staff Writer

Another NFL season has come and gone, and yet again the Super Bowl will feature one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time with Tom Brady and his new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Not only that, but the Bucs will be the first team to play a Super Bowl game in their home stadium.

The Buccaneers go into the big game against the juggernaut Kansas City Chiefs led by the 2018 NFL MVP, Patrick Mahomes. Brady guided a historically irrelevant Bucs team to an 11-5 record en route to the playoffs. 

With an offense also ranking fifth in the league and a defense ranking ninth, this team became a force to be reckoned with their new quarterback at the helm. Brady left New England to prove to everybody that his success was not from being a system quarterback. At age 43, he proved just that.

Throwing for 4,633 yards, along with 40 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, proves that Brady still has more than enough left in the tank to take this team to glory. Entering the playoffs for the first time since 2007, this Brady-led team is ready to roll.

On wildcard weekend, Brady and the Bucs took care of business and beat the Washington Football Team on the road. The doubters were silenced as “grandpa” Tom was able to clinch his new team’s first playoff win since 2002.

Following a superb win against Washington, Tampa Bay went to the Superdome in New Orleans to face-off against the Saints, where they avenged their two regular-season losses to the team who some say were the NFC favorites to make the Super Bowl.

After claiming victory against Drew Brees in his final NFL game, the Buccaneers were faced with the gigantic task of facing the Green Bay Packers and MVP candidate Aaron Rodgers on their home turf at Lambeau Field in the dead of winter. Of course, the ‘cheeseheads’ were favored to win the game and be the NFC’s representative in the Super Bowl.

However, Brady and the Bucs shocked the NFL world again when they silenced the Packers to take home their first NFC crown since 2002. When Super Bowl LV takes place on February 7th, expect the great Tom Brady to add a seventh ring to his collection.

Eric Evelhoch, Staff Writer

At this point it’s shocking a team with Tom Brady at quarterback could be considered an underdog, but going up against the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs is just that circumstance.

The Chiefs are playing for history, and even though the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the first team to host the Super Bowl in their own stadium, I believe Kansas City will repeat as champions.

Since drafting Patrick Mahomes in 2017, Kansas City has entrenched itself as the standard-bearer in the AFC. With Mahomes at the helm, the Chiefs have notched a 38-8 regular-season record, and a 6-1 mark in the playoffs.

However, it’s not just the Mahomes-Brady match-up that features two of the best at their position, as the tight end position features two of the top receiving big men of the past decade. Kansas City’s Travis Kelce and Tampa Bay’s Rob Gronkowski have combined for nine seasons with more than 1,000 yards receiving each, a production that is normally put up by wide receivers.

For all the pedigree on offense, the game is poised to hang in the balance of the defenses. Kansas City has only had one offensive drive end without a touchdown or field goal opportunity in their two playoff games. Tampa Bay’s challenge will be to slow down the KC offense, and they can exploit the Chiefs not having two of their regular starters on the offensive line.

The likely key for the Chief’s defense will be how often they are able to get to Tom Brady. They’ve nearly doubled their number of sacks per game during the playoffs, which will be critical to forcing Tampa Bay into longer yardage situations. If Brady has to throw more and further downfield, it will limit how often the Bucs can lean on their running game.

Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is known for calling an aggressive, blitzing defense. It gave Tampa fits during the Chiefs 27-24 win on the road in week 12. Spagnuolo has beaten Brady in a Super Bowl once before as well; he was the coordinator for the New York Giants in 2007 when they defeated an 18-0 New England to claim Super Bowl XLII.

There’s a reason Kansas City are the defending champions. Their offense feels like a cheat code and they’ve shown they can get stops on defense when needed over the past two seasons.

Tom Brady may be the dog with the best track record, but expect Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City to remain the NFL’s top dog.