Super Bowl LIV

Super Bowl LIV was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Kansas City Chiefs and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2019 season. The Chiefs defeated the 49ers 31–20. The game was played on February 2, 2020, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, which is the home of the Dolphins. This was the eleventh Super Bowl hosted by the South Florida region and the sixth Super Bowl hosted at Hard Rock Stadium. Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes was named Super Bowl MVP for the first time in his career, having completed 26 of 42 pass attempts for 286 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, as well as rushing for 29 yards and one touchdown.

Mahomes led Kansas City to a 12–4 regular season record and the team's third Super Bowl appearance overall. With the emergence of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, the 49ers finished the regular season with a 13–3 record and advanced to their seventh Super Bowl appearance overall.

The first half of the game was back and forth between both teams, with the game tied 10-10 at halftime. In the third, the 49ers took advantage of a Robbie Gould field goal and a touchdown run by Raheem Mostert, putting San Francisco ahead 20-10 leading into the fourth. However, in the game's final seven minutes, the Chiefs quickly overcame their 10-point deficit, with Mahomes completing two touchdown drives to Travis Kelce and Damien Williams, in addition to a late touchdown by Damien Williams and late interception by Kendall Fuller, to seal their victory.

This was the Chiefs' first Super Bowl victory since Super Bowl IV in 1970, their first NFL championship since joining the league in the 1970 AFL–NFL merger, and also subsequently ended their 50-year championship drought. Andy Reid also won his first NFL championship as a head coach. The 49ers were handed their second Super Bowl loss in franchise history after Super Bowl XLVII.

The game has been positively received in retrospect with several outlets praising the Chiefs' late comeback. However, the officiating in Super Bowl LIV was met with criticism, with many questionable calls in favor of the Chiefs. The game's broadcast in the United States by Fox, along with the halftime show headlined by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, was seen by an estimated 103 million viewers—a slight increase over Super Bowl LIII in 2019 (which had seen the smallest audience for the game in 10 years). Due to the seating capacity of Hard Rock Stadium, this game also had the fourth lowest attendance in Super Bowl history (behind Super Bowl I, Super Bowl LVIII, and Super Bowl LV the following year). This was the first time in four years that the Super Bowl did not feature the New England Patriots since they were eliminated in the wild-card round by the Tennessee Titans.

Background

On May 19, 2015, the league announced the four finalists that would compete to host either Super Bowl LIII in 2019 or Super Bowl LIV. NFL owners voted on these cities in May 2016, with the first round of voting determining who would host Super Bowl LIII and the second round deciding the venue for Super Bowl LIV. The league had also originally announced in 2015 that Los Angeles would be eligible as a potential Super Bowl LIV site if there were a stadium in place and a team moved there by the start of the 2018 season.

The league opened the relocation window in January 2016, selecting the former St. Louis Rams to return to Los Angeles; their new stadium in Inglewood, California was, at the time of the vote, not scheduled to open until August 2019 (it began construction in November 2016, giving nearly three years to construct the stadium). This meant the new stadium was scheduled to be open in time for the game (and the league selected the relocating team just in time to be considered for Super Bowl LIV), but, under the current construction timetable, would require a waiver of league policy to host Super Bowl LIV, as the league does not allow stadiums in their first year of existence to host the Super Bowl to ensure stadium construction delays and unforeseen problems do not jeopardize the game. In May 2016, the league granted this waiver and confirmed that Los Angeles was still in consideration for Super Bowl LIV.

The two remaining finalists for Super Bowl LIV were Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, which last hosted Super Bowl XLIV in 2010; and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, which last hosted Super Bowl XLIII in 2009. Miami was selected as the host site at the NFL owners meeting on May 24, 2016.

David Grutman—founder of the popular nightclub LIV at Fontainebleau Miami Beach—stated that he had no issues with the coincidence of Miami hosting Super Bowl LIV, embracing it as free publicity. The club—which first opened in 2008, has regularly hosted professional athletes, and also operates a club and luxury seating section at Hard Rock Stadium—had been named in honor of the hotel first opening in 1954, and as an homage to New York City's Studio 54. Of the NFL's onerous enforcement of venues using league trademarks (such as "Super Bowl") for promotional purposes, Grutman stated that "we don't write the words Super Bowl LIV on anything. This is their mark and their weekend, and we're just so happy that they're doing it in Miami."

Teams

San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers finished the 2019 season with an NFC-best 13–3 record under third-year head coach Kyle Shanahan. San Francisco's rise to the top came as a surprise to the league. They had finished the previous season 4–12 and had not recorded a winning record since 2013.

One big reason for the 49ers' success was the emergence of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. Garoppolo began his career in 2014 as a backup to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, winning Super Bowls XLIX and LI. After two uneventful seasons, Garoppolo's playing time increased substantially in 2016, due to Brady's suspension and because of several large late-game leads. Garoppolo showed potential, with a 113.3 passer rating over a span of six games. The following season, with San Francisco struggling at 0–8, they traded a second-round draft pick for Garoppolo, who led the 49ers to five straight wins to finish the season. Although he missed most of the 2018 season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament sustained vs. the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, Garoppolo recovered in time for the 2019 season, starting all 16 games.

San Francisco's offense finished second in the NFL in points scored (479) and fourth in yards (6,079). Garoppolo completed 69.1% of his passes (fourth in the NFL) for 3,978 yards and 27 touchdowns (fifth), with 13 interceptions. His top pass-catcher was tight end George Kittle, who caught 85 passes for 1,053 yards and five touchdowns. Other key targets included rookie Deebo Samuel (57 receptions, 807 yards, 159 rushing yards, six total touchdowns) and veteran Emmanuel Sanders (36 receptions, 502 yards, three touchdowns). The 49ers ground game was led by running back Raheem Mostert, who had bounced around five different teams in his first two seasons before settling into San Francisco in 2017. Although Mostert did not start any games in 2019, he led the team in rushing with 772 yards and eight touchdowns, with an average of 5.6 yards per carry, while also catching 14 passes for 180 yards and two more touchdowns. Running backs Matt Breida (623 rushing yards, 19 receptions) and Tevin Coleman (544 rushing yards, 21 receptions, 180 receiving yards, seven total touchdowns) also made big impacts on offense, while fullback Kyle Juszczyk made the Pro Bowl, catching 20 passes for 239 yards. San Francisco's offensive line was led by 13-year veteran tackle Joe Staley, a six-time Pro Bowl selection.

The 49ers defense ranked second in the NFL in fewest yards allowed (4,509) and first in fewest passing yards (2,707). The team had an outstanding defensive line, featuring linemen DeForest Buckner (61 tackles, 7.5 sacks, four fumble recoveries), Arik Armstead (54 tackles, 10 sacks), Dee Ford (6.5 sacks), an off-season pickup from the Chiefs, and rookie Nick Bosa (47 tackles, nine sacks, two fumble recoveries). The linebackers were led by Fred Warner (team leading 118 tackles, three sacks, three forced fumbles) and Dre Greenlaw (64 tackles, one sack). Defensive back Richard Sherman led the team in interceptions with three, earning his fifth career Pro Bowl selection before adding two more interceptions in the playoffs.

This was the 49ers' seventh Super Bowl appearance and their first since Super Bowl XLVII in 2013, when they lost to the Baltimore Ravens 34–31. The 49ers had a 5–1 record in their previous six appearances. A sixth Super Bowl victory would have tied the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers with the most Super Bowl championships in the league.

Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs finished the 2019 season with a 12–4 record under Andy Reid, who was serving in his 21st consecutive season as an NFL head coach. The 2019 season marked the Chiefs' fourth straight AFC West title and sixth playoff appearance in seven seasons under Reid.