By Mike Keeney
The first Super Bowl of the new century has the potential to be one of the best ones we’ve seen in recent years. SB No. 54 pits the high-scoring Kansas Chiefs, and one of the game’s rising stars in quarterback Patrick Mahomes, against this year’s Cinderella story, the San Francisco 49ers who turned a 4-12 finish in 2018 to a 13-3 (15-3 now after playoff wins over Minnesota and Green Bay) record and a NFC West title.
The game is scheduled for Miami on Sunday. Early weather forecasts call for showers in the morning, but clearing by the 5:40 p.m. Central Time kickoff on FOX.
This will mark the first time in 18 years that somebody other than Tom Brady (started last four Super Bowls), Peyton Manning or Ben Rothlisberger will quarterback an AFC team in the big game.
The Chiefs will be seeking their second Lombardi Trophy, while the 49ers will be looking for their sixth Super Bowl title, which would tie them with the Steelers as the only NFL teams with six Lombardi’s.
This game will also have a local tie, as former MacArthur High standout Richard Whitaker is the special teams coach for the 49ers.
Chief fans have waited 50 years for a return to the big game, while 49er fans have waited 25 years to get back to a game Joe Montana and Steve Young played in routinely back in the late 1980s and 1990s.
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