By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
A myriad of penalties haunted the Kansas City Chiefs in the first half, and Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated Kansas City 31-9 in Super Bowl 55 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Sunday.
It marks the first Super Bowl win for Tampa since 2003, and gives Brady a seventh ring after his tenth appearance in the big game.
The Chiefs, aiming for the first Super Bowl repeat in 17 years, got on the board first with a 49-yard field goal from Harrison Butker early in the first quarter after the Kansas City defense stopped Tampa on their first two possessions.
The Buccaneers offense then woke up, marching 75 yards on eight plays on their ensuing possession.
Brady, who won Super Bowl MVP for a fifth time, went 4-for-4 on the drive, including an eight-yard touchdown pass to tight end and former Patriot teammate Rob Gronkowski.
The score gave Tampa a 7-3 lead after the first quarter.
Kansas City's offense was stagnant to start, as Mahomes completed just two of his first nine attempts through the air.
"They played better than we did," Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. "I take full responsibility for it. You just can't do the things that we did, and expect to beat a good football team like that. Particularly at this level."
Brady meanwhile completed eight of his first 10 passes, and led the Bucs on what looked to be another scoring drive early in the second quarter.
The Bucs got the ball down to the one-yard line, but running back Ronald Jones II was stopped short of the goal line on both third and fourth down runs.
The Chiefs, however, could not take advantage of that critical stop. In fact, Tommy Townsend shanked an ensuing punt for 29 yards, setting Tampa Bay up on the Chiefs' 41-yard line.
Tyrann Mathieu then had what was an interception on a tipped ball, but that was negated due to a holding penalty.
Kansas City's defense held Tampa to a field goal attempt, but an offside penalty gave the Bucs a fresh set of downs.
And Brady took advantage. On the next play.
He found his old pal Gronk on a 17-yard touchdown strike, giving the Buccaneers a 14-3 lead with 6:03 left in the first half.
Down double digits? Typically, no problem for the Chiefs.
Kansas City's offense responded with their best drive of the first half, getting into the red zone, but excessive pressure on Mahomes caused the drive to stall. The Chiefs called on Butker again and he converted - this time from 34 yards out.
Working with just under a minute, Brady and the Bucs moved down the field again and were aided by a pass interference penalty on Beshaud Breeland.
Penalties were a huge problem for Kansas City in the first half. They were called on eight of them for 95 yards.
After a pass interference penalty on Mathieu in the end zone, Tampa Bay got a first down at the one-yard line, and Brady found Antonio Brown for a score on the following play.
Tampa led 21-6 at the break, ending the first half on a five-play, 71-yard drive.
Brady completed 16-of-20 passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone. Gronk had five grabs for 42 yards, including two scores in the first half as well.
In all, the Chiefs were called on eight penalties for 95 yards in the first half, and 11 penalties for 120 yards in the whole game.
Kansas City got the ball to start the third quarter, and had some nice plays. Clyde Edwards-Helaire had runs of 26 and 10 yards, but again, the Chiefs' drive stalled.
Butker came through for a third time, nailing a 52-yard field goal to make it a 21-9 game with 11:26 to go in the third.
Tampa then had one of their best drives of the game to start the second half. Sparked by a 25-yard catch by Gronk, Leonard Fournette ran around the right side for a 27-yard touchdown run on the very next play, putting the Bucs ahead 28-9 midway through the 3rd.
Fournette finished his night with 89 yards on 16 carries.
It only got worse for Kansas City after that. After Mahomes got sacked for the first time, a pass on 3rd and 13 to Tyreek Hill got tipped in the air and then picked off by Antoine Winfield.
That interception the Bucs a first down on the Chiefs' 45. However, a botched snap on third and short forced Tampa into a long field goal try, which Ryan Succop made. His 52-yarder put Tampa ahead 31-9 with 2:46 remaining in the third.
The Chiefs had the ball to start the fourth quarter and drove 64 yards on 11 plays, but intense pressure on Mahomes led to three straight incompletions and a turnover on downs.
Sunday marked the first game all season where the Chiefs didn't score a touchdown. Third downs were also a struggle, as Kansas City was just 3-of-13 in that category.
"When you play a good defense like (Tampa), you have to be on the same page as an offense," Mahomes said. "And, we weren't today. That's why we played so bad."
Depth along Kansas City's offensive line was a big question heading into Sunday's game. Tackles Eric Fischer (Achilles) and Mitchell Schwartz (back) were ruled out.
Guard Kelechi Osemele (knee) was placed on IR in week 5, while tackle Lucas Niang and guard Laurent-Duvernay-Tardif opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19.
Brady finished his night going 21-of-29 for 201 yards and three scores. Gronk had six catches for 67 yards and a pair of scores.
Mahomes, who did all he could singlehandedly to keep his team in it, completed 26-of-49 passes for 270 yards and two interceptions. Kelce had 10 catches for 133 yards. Tyreek Hill finished with 73 yards on seven receptions.
While a loss in the biggest game of them all is always going to sting, Mahomes expresses optimism about the opportunity to learn and get better from the experience.
"It hurts a lot," Mahomes said. "We'll continue to get better. We have a young group of guys who have had a lot of success, but we've had a few failures and we have to learn from that. We can't let this define us. We have to continue to get better."
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