On Sunday the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will compete in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas. This will be the sixth appearance for the Chiefs and the eighth for the 49ers, serving as a rematch for Super Bowl LIV in 2020 in which Kansas City took the victory.

Chiefs Kingdom

The AFC champions are going into the game with an 11-6 record and a 17-10 win over the Ravens in their conference championship game. The Chiefs are looking to be back-to-back Super Bowl winners, having beaten the Eagles in last year’s game. Under the leadership of head coach Andy Reid, key players such as quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce are seeking the franchise’s fourth title.

Among those rooting for the Chiefs is senior Finn Corrigan. For him, it’s a family affair due to his mom being for Kansas, and most of the rest of his family being from or living there. Corrigan knows that there are high expectations for the Chiefs due to winning last season.

“We didn’t start off super hot to the season, it definitely wasn’t ideal,” Corrigan said. “We lost some games that we were supposed to win and I think that just kind of made us better as a team going forward and helped us fix some of our problems.”

During the AFC championship, the odds were against the Chiefs, literally, with the Ravens being the favorite to win both the AFC title and the Super Bowl. Corrigan thinks that Kansas City’s offense and defense were able to balance each other out during that game to lead to a Chiefs win.

“I was paying attention to how our defense did, and our defense did well and also our offense did really well,” Corrigan said. “Then [the offense] didn’t do well in the second half, but it didn’t matter because our defense did well, so I think it’s just kind of watching how if one’s not doing well the other side will pick it up.”

In the Super Bowl, Corrigan envisions the offense doing well because they are good at making big plays and finding ways to score with the help of their star players. In the end, however, he thinks it is the Chiefs defense that is the main strength of the team this season.

“I honestly think it’ll be players on the defense like L’Jarius Sneed or Chris Jones. I think they’ll have the chance to make a really big impact,” Corrigan said. “This year our defense has also gotten so much better, and I think this is the first year in the past couple of years that our defense has been our leading thing.”

The Chiefs have also attracted many new fans this season due to high-profile people at the games. Corrigan thinks that this can be beneficial for the team but also hurt it due to the attraction.

“Yes we’re getting more exposure, we’re getting more people viewing our games but that can also come with more expectations,” Corrigan said. “[Those expectations] could be harder to reach and then people get annoyed when they see the same person who keeps showing up on the screen.”

Corrigan plans to have friends over for the game, with his mom wanting to celebrate her lifelong team going to the Super Bowl for the third consecutive year, to cheer them on and hope for a Chiefs win.

Niners Faithful

The 49ers, also known as the Niners, are entering the Super Bowl 12-5 and are coming off a 34-31 win over the Lions in the NFC championship. San Francisco hasn’t won a Super Bowl since 1995, losing their two most recent appearances. The Niners, with the likes of quarterback Brock Purdy and running back Christian McCaffrey, hope to end their almost 30-year drought with the help of their head coach Kyle Shanahan.

Born into the Niners fandom, junior Grace Valdez attributes her love of the team to her dad, who became a fan during the reign of Hall of Famer Joe Montana. As the season began, San Francisco won their first five games, leaving Valdez in disbelief at their strong start after their loss in the NFC championship at the end of the 2022 season.”

“It was very stressful this NFC championship cause I thought we were so close to not making it again,” Valdez said. “To have the opportunity to play the Chiefs ever since 2019 is an amazing opportunity.”

Valdez isn’t worried even if the Chiefs jump out to an early lead in the Super Bowl as she believes that her team is a second-half and specifically a third-quarter team. The 49ers showed this in their last game when they were down to the Detroit Lions 24-7 at halftime but scored 17 unanswered points in the third quarter. Valdez thinks that they are normally a heavy defense team, but this year their offense has shined.

“Deebo, Kittle, Aiyuk, even Purdy, we also have a huge running game,” Valdez said. “It was really a chess match [during the Lions game] to figure out who would be better in running game and that’s when it came down to Purdy to come in clutch with his passing game and quarterback sneaks, which were a really big surprise.”

There has also been a lot of media coverage and controversy regarding how the Super Bowl is being covered and what the NFL is focusing on highlighting, but Valdez respects the people and politics of the sport, having no animosity towards it.

“Football’s just a game, and as much as I like to get fired up about it during the game, everyone’s yelling at their TVs, I’m guilty of it too, but I genuinely think no matter what if they play football fairly then good for them.”

As far as plans for watching the Super Bowl, Valdez has gotten invited to some parties to watch the game but thinks she’ll likely end up staying at home and watching with her family. She also plans to rep her Niners jersey to school if they win and to have bragging rights over her friends until next season.

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