Quarterback legend Tom Brady has won the Super Bowl for the seventh time in his career and dethroned the favorite defending champion Kansas City Chiefs with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Buccaneers won 31-9 (21-6) in Tampa on Sunday (local time) and are now the first team in NFL history to celebrate the greatest triumph in American football in their own stadium.
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The 43-year-old Brady was already the most successful professional football player in history with six wins and led the Buccaneers to historic success with three touchdown passes. Despite the corona pandemic, the Bucs’ Raymond James Stadium was a good third full with 25,000 spectators. The Chiefs, around playmaker Patrick Mahomes, who was 18 years his junior, never reached their level and made unusual and sometimes outrageous mistakes.
Mahomes does not come into its own, penalties cost Chiefs almost a whole pitch
The Chiefs scored the first three points of the game with a field goal, but otherwise didn’t live up to their role as favorites at all. Without the usual protection from his injury-depleted bodyguards, Mahomes found himself under pressure on almost every play. But the defending champions were hurt much more by the many penalties that cost them almost a whole pitch in the first half alone. There has never been a 95-yard penalty in a Super Bowl half.
For example, Sarah Thomas was the first female referee in a Super Bowl to signal an offside position for the Chiefs, which immediately gave the Buccaneers a second touchdown.
With the unexcited detachment of a veteran, Brady took advantage of the Chiefs’ many gifts. In particular, the interaction with his buddy Rob Gronkowski worked splendidly. The first two touchdowns were a co-production of the two football greats, who had already won three Super Bowls together with the New England Patriots. Brady’s 14 touchdown passes to Gronkowski in the playoffs is another NFL record.
Antonio Brown contributed the last touchdown to the half-time score of 21:6, adding another chapter of success to his unexpected comeback story. The pass recipient, who was involved in many scandals, was suspended for misconduct for the first eight weeks of the season and was only then signed by the Bucs.
In the second half, which was less exciting due to the clear score, running back Leonard Fournette managed the fourth touchdown for the host. The Chiefs never got back into the game, and Mahomes lost by a double-digit deficit for the first time in the 54th NFL game of his career. The Chiefs’ offensive, which was rated as strong and convincing all season, didn’t score a single touchdown, all nine points came from field goals by kicker Harrison Butker.