I recall watching the first championship game ever officially called the Super Bowl in 1969. It was then still a game between that season's champions of the two distinct professional football leagues, the National Football League and the American Football League. There would be one more before the leagues merged.
The first two NFL-AFL World Championship games were won by the NFL's Green Bay Packers at the tail end of their years of total dominance under coach Vince Lombardi. Partly because of that, and because the NFL was a much older organization, it was felt to be the stronger. People wondered if the AFL would ever win a championship.
In Super Bowl III (as it was later titled) the NFL was represented by the powerhouse Baltimore Colts, with the already legendary quarterback Johnny Unitias, who'd led them to their second successive one-loss season. That team also had given up the fewest points in a 14 game season in history to that point. The AFL was represented by the New York Jets, a franchise that was only nine years old. Quarterback Joe Namath had played professionally for just four years, all of them with the Jets. Plagued by injuries, he had still put up impressive numbers.
But the sports wisdom of that time said the Jets were literally out of their league. The Colts--even though quarterback Unitas was injured--were heavily favored, and even called the best football team of all time.
I suspect even football fans born decades after this game will know what happened. Namath's passing shredded the vaunted Colts defense, and the Colts offense (even after Unitas entered the game in the second half) was completely ineffective, with several interceptions. The Jets won 16-7 in one of the most famous Super Bowls ever.
I suppose sports fans in the future will argue which was the greater upset, but this certainly was a precedent for what happened in this year's Super Bowl. The Chiefs vaunted offense was utterly ineffective, especially against a ferocious pass rush. On the other hand, they accomplished their defensive plan: they stopped Saquon Barkley and the running game, and made quarterback Jalen Hurts beat them through the air. Unfortunately for them, he did.
Behind a dominant offensive line, Hurts supplemented pinpoint passing and effective exploitation of the aggressive run defense with timely runs (leading the team in rushing yards.) The combination was lethal and dominant. Two interceptions of Mahomes led to two quick touchdowns, and Philadelphia led 24-0 at halftime.
But as Tom Brady said recently, the Super Bowl is two games, because it is so long. There is plenty of time between the halves to analyze problems and make adjustments. The Chiefs were usually good at doing this. But they managed only one first down in their first drive of the third quarter. The Eagles marched back down the field and scored a field goal. It was now 27-0.
The next Chiefs drive stalled again, ending with a failed fourth down pass. Everyone expected the Eagles to revert to the run game and milk the clock. Instead Hurts threw a long pass to the end zone on the first play, and in the blink of an eye the Eagles led 34-0.
The Chiefs scored a few times in the fourth quarter, though the last TD was against the Eagles second team defense with about a minute left. The Eagles had added two field goals and won easily, 40-22. The Chiefs didn't three-peat, it was Jalen Hurt who won game MVP, and a number of other expectations were dashed.
I've seen only a little of the post-game commentary by the sports wisdoms who predicted a close game that the Chiefs always win. Did they admit anything? Are you kidding? They sure turned against Mahomes, though.
Time to trot out the actual wisdom that applies: this is why they play the game.
The Warriors
After Jimmy Butler joined the team, the Golden State Warriors played at Chicago against the young Bulls. By the third quarter they were behind 24 points, so not much seemed to have changed. But on the court it must have seemed to them that everything was changing. They then had the highest point differential in a quarter and a half in modern NBA history, a 49 point swing, to win the game by more than 20. Steph had 34, Jimmy Butler 25.
They then visited the Bucks, a better team on a 7 game winning streak, though they were without their star Giannis. Again the Warriors started slowly but built momentum and won that game handily. Steph had a season high 38 points in his 1,000th career game, and Butler had 20. So far, with no time to learn the offense, Butler has made a significant positive difference--probably the difference between winning and losing in his first two games. But that's the rap on Butler--he's great at first. So far however it's clear that the Warriors are very happy with this trade.
