BRB GroupThink: The BIG Game

There are a lot of BIG games over the course of a season. Sunday Night football between undefeated teams, win and get in late December or early January football, Super Wild Card weekend...none of them can touch the BIGGEST BIG game of the year, the Super Bowl, a cultural touchstone, a night where marketers convince themselves they are artists as they attempt to create a need for a product that isn’t necessary. People who watch one football game a year watch their one football game. Binge drinking turns into pizza puking. It’s the end to all those New Year Resolutions. All of it ties up the end of the football season. Finally, a champion.

For this week’s GroupThink, I asked the masthead for their Super Bowl predictions and their feelings on the BIG game.

BIGFATDRUNK:

Chiefs 48, Bucs 38.

Neither team is going to stop the other. It’s going to be like watching a tennis match.

That being said, I’m mos def rooting for the Chiefs.

Look, the Bucs are fine and have good, fun players. It just kinda grosses me out that Tom Brady is a hired gun for the Bucs to prove a point in his little battle with Bill Belichick. I felt it was all petty to the very end between Brady and Belichick, though, you know, screw those guys, anyway.

There’s a subtle purity to the Chiefs and their offensive. It’s art, poetry in motion, ballet, and all the other aesthetic beauties of life.

This all reminds me how much I hate Cal McNair and Jack Easterby.

L4BLITZER:

Chiefs 38, Bucs 33.

I don’t have a particular rooting interest for this game. Now that Andy Reid got off the snide with the win last year, he can just build on what should be a shoe-in 1st ballot trip to the Hall of Fame. I suppose Bruce Arians should be the sentimental favorite, and I would have no heartburn if he won. Arians has certainly proven he is a damned good coach, with his work in Arizona and that he marshaled the power of Brady with the TB roster to get them to this game.

Still, this game, on the surface, should be an all timer. When they met the first time, Kansas City basically ran out early and just coasted to the win, even as Tampa Bay made it interesting. The Chiefs, now that it is the playoffs, and after last year’s Super Bowl, should be at full throttle. Assuming Mahomes stays healthy, Kansas City should have better success against Tampa Bay’s defense than Green Bay.

While the Tampa Bay defensive line has the potential to make life difficult at times for the Chiefs, and Brady is Brady, if the Chiefs are gifted 3 interceptions, the Chiefs will convert them into more than the 6 points Green Bay managed.

Both teams are offensively driven, and in comparing the offenses, KC > TB, ergo, KC gets the edge. I would expect Tampa Bay to keep it close/interesting, but make it back-to-back Super Bowls for the Chiefs, as they make their move to become the team of the 2020s...and further reinforce just how ginormous the gap is between the contenders and the Easterby led Texans.

MIKE BULLOCK:

Chiefs 51, Bucs 37.

It wouldn’t be an Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs playoff game without them falling behind early and this will be no different. Tom Brady and the Buccaneers will go up 17-0 early, and then Patrick Mahomes will put on his shortstop rally cap and start side-arm slinging insane passes until it’s 44-31 Chiefs in the 4th. Brady will go into Patriots “win the game with field goals” mode, since that worked for the New England. But after pulling within a touchdown, he’ll throw a pick 6 to Tyrann Mathieu, just so Texans fans can feel a little more pain at watching a former Houston player go onto Super Bowl glory.

DIEHARD CHRIS:

Chiefs 33, Bucs 30.

I love Tom Brady. I love Pat Mahomes. This is a hard one for me regarding who I’m rooting for. I just really want to see a good, close game. Plus, right now because of Jack Easterby and Kyle, I just absolutely HATE football and everything about it.

My mental health aside, I want the Bucs to win because I love the optics of Brady going to another team and immediately winning a Super Bowl while the Patriots didn’t even make the tournament. The Bucs were good, but this wasn’t exactly Kevin Durant joining the Golden State Warriors. I want the Chiefs to win because I love their offense, I love the way they play, and anything that raises Eric Bieniemy’s profile even more is ok with me. Plus they have crazy-passionate fans and I always want teams with good fanbases to win.

I think the Bucs defense will give the Chiefs a lot of problems, but man - I just cannot pick against Pat Mahomes. Though I’m, really tempted to pick the Bucs. In the end I’m going Chiefs 33, Bucs 30.