By Matt Stuart | Published | No Comments
It’s been a long year, lots of winding roads leading us to exactly where we are right now, on the eve of the Super Bowl. For myself and Wes, it’s always fun to look back and see from which we came, so to speak. Did either of us get the matchup right. In my case no. In Wes case, he managed to get half of the game pick correct.
So without any further ado, let’s get to our season recap and of course our Super Bowl picks.
As some of you know my Super Bowl pick from the pre-season, way back on August 1st, when I was a little under the weather and Wes insisted that was the day we would make all of our picks, not that I am blaming y slight cold for my disastrous picks, but I just thought it was fair to point that out.
Now that all the awards have been dolled out and of course the Super Bowl matchup is upon us we can now reflect to see which of us came closest.
First off here are my picks:
Matt’s Super Bowl LVIII prediction: Philadelphia Eagles vs. Buffalo Bills
The fact that both of these teams went out early in the playoffs, wild card round for the Eagles and the divisional round for the Bills only shows how difficult it can be for well put together contending teams to make it to the Super Bowl.
My pick did look good at least on the Bills side when they finished the season winning fife straight games and earning the number two seed. I really believed that this was the best chance that the Bills had to knock off the Chiefs since the game would be played in Buffalo. In the end of course it didn’t matter. The Chiefs showed that whether at home or on the road, they were the better team.
As for the Eagles well they started the season just like they did a year ago, rolling through a fairly easy schedule. I expected that they would split their games against the Cowboys which they did. I also expected that they would knock off the Chiefs in their big rematch game, which they did and take care of the Bills a week later, which they also did.
What I didn’t expect was that they would get clobbered against the 49ers and the Cowboys and end up losing five of their last six games. The Eagles were just a shell of their former selves when they finally did reach the playoffs.
All right I now turn it over to Wes.
Wes Super Bowl LVIII prediction: San Francisco 49ers vs. Buffalo Bills
I like Matt felt pretty strong that the Bills would be representing the AFC in the Super Bowl. I really thought that the Bills finally addressing their running game during the off-season would be the key to getting all the way to the Super Bowl. It just felt like this was going to be the Bills year where they might finally get a chance to take advantage of a slightly weaker AFC field. I mean the Patriots and Jets ended up at the bottom. The Chargers fell flat, and I of course knew that the Miami Dolphins would not be able to keep their very gimmicky offense going the length of the season. I didn’t see Baltimore being quite as good as they ended up being and I knew that the Bills would have to knock off their old foes in the Chiefs come playoff time.
What I couldn’t imagine is that the Bills would be the higher seed this year over the Chiefs and that they would fail to get the job done at home. I actually expected that the Bills would have to knock off the Chiefs in Arrowhead again this year, just like they almost did two years ago. When it became clear that the Chiefs would have to go on the road to knock off Buffalo, I was of course feeling even better about my pick. But alas it was not to be.
My NFC pick San Francisco 49ers though did manage to redeem me. I may not have nailed the complete Super Bowl matchup, but hey one out of two aint bad.
I like the 49ers because of how stable they have been over the last four of five years. They never seem to panic when things don’t workout quite the way that the planned for. The 49ers have really had some adversity thrown at them over the past couple of seasons, but they have managed to keep humming right along. Whether it’s losing three quarterbacks to injury in one season, and still managing to reach the NFC Championship game, or draft picks bombing (Trey Lance) to tricky cap situations that can many times cause teams to lose a foundational piece on their defensive or offensive lines. The 49ers were simply able to overcome all of that.
So it’s not too surprisingly to see the 49ers make it back to Super Bowl for the second time in four seasons. I am also not shocked that this Super Bowl is a rematch from Super Bowl LIV in Miami.
I figured if the Bills didn’t reach the Super Bowl, my next pick was going to be the Chiefs.
Alight, well now that we have all of that out of the way. Let’s get down to picking the game shall we. Since Wes managed to get half of Super Bowl LVIII matchup correct, I feel it’s only fair that he get to make his hame pick first.
Wes’ Super Bowl LVIII pick:
So to me when we manage to get a Super Bowl rematch in three or four years since the first one at least, what I like to look at is what is going to change for the team that lost the last time, to win this time. In essence, what did the losing team learn that will help them this time around.
Last time around it was really the 49ers who outplayed the Chiefs. The 49ers held a ten point lead over the Chiefs going into the fourth quarter. The Chiefs actually played quite poorly for much of that game, and Patrick Mahomes two interceptions, one not entirely his fault, seemed to have sunk the Chiefs and taken all of the momentum away.
But the Chiefs ability to erase large leads in big games, is one of the things that makes them so dangerous. You really have to play a perfect game against this Kansas City team, and even then there really are no guarantees. The 49ers played three quarters of a perfect game in their last Super Bowl meeting. There defense got after Mahomes all night long, and that eventually paid off when 49ers linebacker Fred Warner picked off a throw over the middle of the field that led to seven points for the 49ers and seemingly broke the game wide open for them.
My question is very similar to one that Matt posed about the Bills finally getting over their Chiefs hump and beating Kansas City in the playoffs. If the Bills could not do it this year, then what is going to change for them the next time.
I am kinda there with the 49ers. As I said, I really did think that the 49ers played a perfect game last time against the Chiefs, they just could not finish the job. I think the deciding factor, for me at least, is Christian McCaffrey.
Last time the 49ers had no McCaffrey. They did manage a nice result on the ground by Raheem Mostert. And again I am certainly not blaming Mostert for the loss. But McCaffrey can do some more things than could Mostert. McCaffrey is a big threat in the passing game, and the way the 49ers use McCaffrey is somewhat similar to the way the Chiefs use Travis Kelce. I believe that in order for the 49ers to knock off the Chiefs this time around they will need to get all their monies worth out of that trade that brought McCaffrey over from the Panthers.
McCaffrey has to steal the show and be the difference maker if the 49ers are going to celebrate their sixth Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.
The good news for the 49ers is I see just that happening.
Wes’ SB LVIII pick – 49ers 34 – Chiefs 24
Wow so Wes is taking the 49ers over the Chiefs. I have to say that I am a little surprised by that.
Ok so no my turn.
Matt’s Super Bowl LVIII pick:
I am not going to over complicate things here. When we get to the Super Bowl I like to keep things simple. To me I look at the team that has done it before. That is to say, I look for the team that has compiled the big time wins in the big time games. One of these teams has a future Hall of Famer at the quarterback position and with a win on Sunday will make his case for emerging GOAT, and that player is of course Patrick Mahomes.
That is not a slight at 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. Purdy has been amazing in his short two years in the league. Purdy doesn’t have to be Mahomes to win this Super Bowl, he has all the pieces around him to accomplish that.
Purdy needs to play his best game. I believe that we need to see the Purdy from the second half of that NFC Championship game against the Detroit Lions, for the entirety of this game. Purdy and the 49ers just cannot afford to get off to a slow start.
If they do, the Chiefs have the ability and experience to burry them and put this hame out of reach.
I think these two teams are very evenly matched. They of course win in very different ways, but make no mistake each of these two teams has a defense that can smother it’s opponent, and at the same time has an offense that can light up the scoreboard.
It’s the latter part of that which concerns me a little about picking the 49ers. Can they score enough points? Can their offense play at a high level for all four quarters, not just for one or two.
I said that I was going to keep things simple here and I am. The Chiefs have the experience, they have the better quarterback and their defense played better, down the stretch against better competition, so what does all of that mean. I guess it means that I am picking the Chiefs to repeat as Super Bowl champions.
Matt’s SB LVIII pick – Chiefs 28 – 49ers 24.
So there ya have it sports fans. Me and Wes are split on the outcome of Super Bowl LVIII. But would you have honestly expected anything different.
For more fun check out all of our pre-season picks, from who we thought would win the MVP all the way down to rookie of the year and top coaching awards.
