Last weekend, the NFC Championship and AFC Championship games were played between the Detroit Lions and the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens, respectively. Filled with competition and cheer, the weekend led us to the final two teams—the Chiefs and the 49ers—that will be going head to head in the biggest sports competition in the country—the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl will be held on Sunday, Feburary 11, in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

The Chiefs and  the 49ers have not competed against each other this season, which means that the Super Bowl will be their first encounter. However , according to this season’s statistics, the 49ers have fallen to many of the teams that Kansas City has beaten, including the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, and the Minnesota Vikings. Not only have the Chiefs proven themselves as a team against the best in the league but they have also individually shown that they have more talent than every team they have faced.

Nonetheless, not all bets are on the Chiefs. The 49ers also have an extremely tough team for any opponent to face. They have a better record than their future opponent,  having won 12 games and only losing five. Along with that, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is 5th in the NFL for passing yards and 3rd for passing touchdowns, both rankings higher than Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs quarterback. Purdy, formerly known as “Mr. Irrelevant,” was drafted last in the 2022 NFL Draft and had a very small chance of receiving any playing time. However, due to some of his teammates’ injuries, he eventually received a chance to step on the field and perform. Now, after having proved himself to his team and the NFL, Purdy now has a one of a kind opportunity to go from being the last drafted player to being a Super Bowl champion. With this opportunity in his hands, there is no doubt that Purdy will work 110% to prove himself in the Super Bowl.

Nevertheless, Mahomes still holds a very valuable advantage over Purdy’s head: championship experience.  This will be Purdy’s first time competing in the Super Bowl, and he will be battling Mahomes, who has already played  in three championship games, winning two of them. However, Purdy’s all-star teammates will have his back in the game, as  there are few teams with as many all-star players as the 49ers. The team had a league-high of nine players selected to the Pro-Bowl and seven chosen for first- or second-team All-Pro Honors this year. On a good day, the 49ers’s  all-star lineup is almost unstoppable . 

In conclusion, four years ago, we were presented with this same matchup for Super Bowl LIV, where Mahomes defeated the 49ers quarterback at that time, Jimmy Garoppolo, for his first Super Bowl title. Will this year be a repeat of that Super Bowl? Or, will “Mr. Irrelevant” be the comeback story of the year? Tune in Sunday, February 11 to see the results yourself.