A column by CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun Senior Sports Columnist
We waited five months for that?
There was nothing “super” about Super Bowl LIX.
How would you like to have paid over $5,000 for a ticket — the going price last month — to watch a February version of a Browns-Giants preseason game?
Kansas City, bidding for a record third consecutive NFL Championship, got its posterior handed to it Sunday night at the New Orleans’ Caesar’s Superdome by the Eagles, 40-22.
The score makes it sound like a game … it wasn’t.
The Chiefs trailed 34-0 in the final minute of the third period when quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw the first of his three touchdown passes. His other two came in a span of 66 seconds with 2 1/2 minutes to play.
Mahomes, a three-time former Super Bowl MVP, played like the second coming of Ryan Leaf, although his offensive line served as an obvious 5-man accomplice.
He compiled some galling statistics being intercepted twice, handing Philadelphia two touchdowns, Mahomes was sacked a career-high six times and he took 11 other hits while being pressured on over half of his attempts. and losing a fumble that gave the Eagles one of their four field goals.
In was so bad even referee Ron Torbert’s officiating crew couldn’t save Kansas City (7 penalties for 75 yards).
Fox rookie analyst, Tom Brady, he of the seven Super Bowl titles who once dug the Patriots out of a 28-3 second-half hole against Atlanta en route to a 34-28 overtime win, warned us it wasn’t over at halftime. But the Chiefs didn’t have Brady at quarterback and they were clearly toast … there would be no “threepeat.”
Kansas City, favored by 1 1/2 points, assured its bettors that it wouldn’t cover by intermission.
Some other thoughts on the worst Super Bowl since LV when Tampa Bay handled the Chiefs, 31-9.
— Happily, Fox, which televised the game, won’t carry another Super Bowl until 2029 as part of the rotation with ABC, CBS and NBC.
That gives the network four years to do a better job next time.
Play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt was solid and Brady, finishing his rookie season as an analyst, has some good technical insights, and will figure out where he needs work by watching tape.
Erin Andrews is a pro and ranks as the best sideline reporter covering NFL games. But so much of a Fox telecast is just plain sloppy, especially when compared to its competing networks.
— Fox’s main problem is its pregame show when host Curt Menefee is charged with controlling Michael Strahan, Howie Long, Terry Bradshaw, Jay Glazer and Jimmy Johnson’s buffoonery. They talk over each other, run their ridiculous plays on a faux field acting like middle-aged has-beens who still “have it,” and make statements that prove they haven’t done their homework” It’s embarrassing and does nothing to enlighten the audience. Only Johnson and Long make an effort to retain the show’s credibility. At least when Rob Gronkowski comes on the set we already know he’s an overgrown fraternity wannabe who has a sense of humor.
— My favorite part of the pregame was an interview with a visiting Philadelphia fan who ended the piece by starting an Eagles chant, spelling the team “Eagels.”
— Because Fox is his favored network, President Donald Trump agreed to a 1-and-1 interview with anchor man Bret Baier before the game. He threw the president more softballs than a rookie youth league pitcher in her first start.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun and Olean Star senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
