By — Joey Hudson
Super Bowl 2021 took place on February 7, 20221, at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida. The game was between the 2 final teams remaining for the 2020 NFL season, the 2 teams being the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Going into the game, the Chiefs wanted to hold onto their championship title after winning the last Super Bowl against the 49ers with the result being a 31-20 victory for the Chiefs. This was also monumental for the Buccaneers as their newly acquired quarterback, Tom Brady, could possibly win his 7th Super Bowl as well as the Buccaneers getting the chance to win their 2nd Super Bowl, their first win being 18 years ago. As a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the attendance had to be shortened to 25,000 and also being required to wear masks. Out of the 25,000 people there, 7,500 were healthcare workers who were invited by the NFL.
For the pregame performances, H.E.R., an R&B singer, sung her rendition of, “America the Beautiful” with her electric guitar. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was then performed by country singer Eric Church as well as R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan as a duet. After Church and Sullivan’s performance, National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, who also recited one of her poems at Biden’s inauguration on January 20th, read another poem before the coin toss that highlighted front line workers for the Coronavirus pandemic as well as teachers.
After Gorman’s recitement of her poem, the coin toss went in favor towards the Chiefs after the coin landed on their choice, heads. The Chiefs chose to kick the ball first. The Chiefs got into a quick lead after getting a field goal and scoring 3 points. However, the Chiefs didn’t hold on to their lead for long after Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady threw a 44 yard pass and Leonard Fournette rushed 26 yards, and then Rob Gronkowski got an 8-yard touchdown. The 1st quarter ended with a 3-7 score with the Buccaneers leading.
In the 2nd quarter, Gronkowski was able to score another touchdowns for the Buccaneers thanks to Brady, making the game 14-3 in favor for the Buccaneers. The Chiefs were able to rack up 3 more points with a 34-yard attempt field goal. However, after a flag against the Chiefs after a pass interference from Tyrann Mathieu, the Buccaneers were able to score another touchdown with only 10 seconds left in the 2nd quarter, making the final score heading into halftime 21-6 Buccaneers.
The halftime show was performed by Canadien singer Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, better known by his stage name The Weeknd. The singer performed in order, “Call Out My Name”, “Starboy”, “The Hills”, “Can’t Feel My Face”, “I Feel It Coming”, “Save Your Tears”, “Earned It”, “House of Balloons”, and one of his most famous songs, “Blinding Lights”. After the Super Bowl, The Weeknd had his streams up by 41%.
Going into the 3rd quarter, no one had scored until 11 minutes and 26 seconds into the quarter. The Chiefs were able to get another 3 points after another field goal. However, the Chiefs weren’t able to capitalize on this, and due to the poor defense, the Buccaneers were able to get a touchdown thanks to Warrick De’Mon Dunn, making the game 28-9. The Buccaneers were able to then get 3 more points after a field goal, making the score 31-9 heading into the 4th quarter.
Early in the 4th quarter, the Chiefs were almost able to get a touchdown thanks to Mahomes throwing a long pass towards Pringle who was in the touchdown zone, but it was ruled as an incomplete pass. Both teams tried to start something throughout the entire quarter, but none were able to score any more points in the quarter, making the final score 31-9 with the Buccaneers winning their 2nd Super Bowl and Tom Brady winning his 7th Super Bowl.
After the Super Bowl, many fans took to social media to express their belief that the Super Bowl was rigged for Tom Brady to win due to the officiating of the game. Throughout the game, the referees called 8 different flags for the Chiefs, 2 of which allowed the Buccaneers to score a touchdown. This response from the fans was met with response to Buccaneer fans as well as Tom Brady fans, who put together a collage of the Chiefs from Super Bowl 2020 where it was shown players making plays that were supposed to be called as flags, but weren’t by the referees officiating that game. Tyrann Mathieu from the Chiefs, who was shown getting into an argument during the game with Tom Brady, put out a tweet saying, “He called me something I won’t repeat but yeah I’ll let all the media throw me under the bus as if I did something or said something to him.” The tweet was met with a lot of negativity and controversy towards Mathieu so the tweet has since been taken down, however it’s probably never going to be known what Brady said to Mathieu. It has also been classified recently by Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians that Tom Brady will have to go into a surgery for his left knee. The surgery is suspected that it won’t impact Brady’s status in the league and is more of a minor surgery to correct the knee.
It is still unknown when the next season of the NFL season will begin. It is also unknown whether Tom Brady will be retiring or if he will continue to play next season, however many believe that the quarterback will be back for the 2021 NFL Season. This leaves the question of whether the Buccaneers will be able to hold onto their championship after a strong performance during the 2020 Season and if Tom Brady will get his 8th Super Bowl victory and continue to increase his lead as the player who has won the most Super Bowl rings. All will be answered soon, but for now fans of the NFL will have to wait during the offseason to finish.
