Chiefs 0-0 Buccaneers, 8:41, 1^st quarter

Bradley Pinion comes on to punt and it looks like the Chiefs will start their second drive here on their own 38.

Feels like a fair question.

Chiefs 0-0 Buccaneers, 9:22, 1^st quarter

Roland Jones Jr is the running back with the first carry for the Bucs and he makes the most of it running off for 13 yards. Scotty Miller gets caught for a loss of three. He throws to Cameron Brate who gets five yards but Brady is sacked on the very next possession and that will do it for them.

Chiefs 0-0 Buccaneers, 11:29, 1^st quarter

The punt goes into the end zone for a touchback so Tampa Bay will be starting at their own 20.

Chiefs 0-0 Buccaneers, 11:29, 1^st quarter

On 1^st & 10, Mahomes runs again, for a gain of 2 yards. 2^nd & 8, Mahomes throws one long but it goes nowhere. 3^rd & 8, Mahomes throws to a wide open Mecole Hardman but it’s nowhere near him. He tries again, and it’s another no-go so the Chiefs have to punt as well.

Chiefs 0-0 Buccaneers, 12:48, 1^st quarter

On 2^nd & 7, Mahomes throws incomplete. On 3^rd & 7, he legs it out and picks up eleven yards for a first down.

Chiefs 0-0 Buccaneers, 13:33, 1^st quarter

The Buccaneers punt which puts the Chiefs at their own 33. On 1^st & 10, Mahomes throws to Byron Pringle for a 3 yard gain and you know once Pringle pops he just can’t stop.

Chiefs 0-0 Buccaneers, 13:48, 1^st quarter

And it’s quickly a three-and-out. Well that’s a good start for my scoreless first quarter prediction.

Chiefs 0-0 Buccaneers, 15:00, 1^st quarter

The Buccaneers will be starting at their own 28 after a short kickoff return.

Oh of course we have one more montage to go. This one’s narrated by Brad Pitt in a weirdly deep voice.

Coin toss

And we’re doing a salute to everyday heroes here before the coin toss. Kansas City wins the coin toss and the wisely decide to defer, so the Buccaneers will have possession first. We’re very, very close to actual sports here.

There’s already chatter online about the crowds possibly being larger than previously announced. Judging by the eye, it definitely feels that way.

National Anthem

Hey, Eric Church. I actually like him and he’s singing along with Jazmine Sullivan. We’re doing a mixture of country and soul here that shouldn’t really work, but actually does.

So that’s two impressive performances in a row, hopefully that ends up being a sign that this is going’to be a good one.

The H.E.R. performance was quite great. Also, this is a great tweet.

Oh hey, it’s the incredibly talented H.E.R. doing “American the Beautiful.” This is really, really lovely stuff.

The Super Bowl isn’t entirely about football. Some, in fact, would argue that it isn’t even mostly about football. On that note, the Guardian will also be keeping up a liveblog of the commercials and the halftime entertainment and everything else that goes along with this de facto holiday.

Oh, hey it’s the Chiefs war chant. That’s… that’s, uh, an interesting choice …

There’s something else newsworthy about today: Sarah Thomas will be the first woman to ever officiate a Super Bowl. This feels like it probably should have happened before 2021, but it’s nice to see regardless.

The player introductions are about to begin, which is a sign that actual football will be coming soon.

Email from Oliver Wicks:

Hi Hunter, I’m enjoying your text stream. I’m Olly in Liverpool, England. Here’s my prediction.

Nobody thought the Bucs would beat the Saints in the play offs, let alone the Packers. But tonight, I think the TB12 fairytale will come to an end and the Chiefs will thunder to a second super bowl win in two years. If Mahomes, Kelce, and Hill all have an 8/10 game or better, you simply can’t stop them and can’t outscore them. That will happen tonight. They’re just too good.

This feels like a solid “most likely scenario” on my end, which doesn’t necessarily mean that I expect it to play out that way.

Well, we at the Guardian thank everybody who will be staying up with us. I won’t lie, these things tend to go a little long.

Predictions

From our good pal Roger Kirkby:

Hi Hunter, I’ve seen too many predictions that these two QB’s are gonna go toe to toe in a high scoring shootout. Therefore I predict 10-7 at the half, I’ve got no dog in this fight, but if I was a betting man I would go unders all the way. Love watching the SB to see a funky play that you don’t see often, the team that springs one will win.

I too am afraid that we sort of jinxed things here. Games very rarely play out as expected (I mean, obviously, or otherwise they wouldn’t play it.) I have predicted a scoreless first quarter partly because of that. We’ll see.

If anyone else has any predicitons, feel free to share it with us. The email’s [email protected], the Twitter account is @HunterFelt (don’t worry this is the last time I’m going to repeat myself here at least until halftime).

I’m writing this from a very wintry Boston, MA. Since I’m snowbound here, you would think that I would get a pang of jealousy while watching these two teams playing in sunny, 60 degree weather. Funnily enough, not really. I mean, it’s not like there’s anywhere to go here in the New Abnormal.

My brother Travis actually lives in Southwest Florida and roots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (although I think he’s really more of a hockey guy). Let me tell you, it’s borderline-hilarious that he’s now rooting for Tom Brady while I’m not. Maybe it is all about the laundry. I’m going to attempt to get him to comment on how the Bucs are doing. In the NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning just won the Stanley Cup, so we’re lookng at an abundance of riches here, potentially for Tampa.

Preamble

Hello all, this is Hunter Felt and I’m taking over this blog for the next few hours. Glad to be here and glad not be outside in the snow.

Sometimes we in the media need to manufacturer narratives where there aren’t necessarily there. That will not be the case today when the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers here in Super Bowl LV. The focus is going to be on the two quarterbacks. Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady (age 43) is looking for another ring to help solidify his case as the best QB in NFL history while Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes (age 25) is hoping to be the player that eventually could challenge Brady.

Now, there are other things going on here than a quarterback battle for the ages. The Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 in last year’s Super Bowl and are looking to win back-to-back championships. The Chiefs have done a fantastic job in surrounding Mahomes with a variety of dangerous offensive weapons, most notably tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Tyreek Hill. They were 14-2 during the regular season, giving them the best record in the league and they are the favorites to win it all today.

Meanwhile, Tom Brady will be appearing in the tenth Super Bowl of his career—he has already won six—but this would be his first time winning a championship with a team other than the New England Patriots. Also, this is the first time that a team has ever had home court advantage in a Super Bowl, as this will all be taking place at Raymond James Stadium. This would be more of a help for Tampa Bay if it weren’t for the fact that this Super Bowl will have the lowest attendance in NFL history for reasons that should be quite obvious. As Tom noted earlier, there will only be 25,000 fans in a stadium that has a maximum capacity of 65,890 and who knows how many of those will actually be Bucs fans. (I still think it would be hilarious if they took their lead from the NBA and put virtual fans in the seats.)

No matter what happens, we probably couldn’t have hoped for a more intriguing matchup than the one we’re getting today. This could be quite a fun one. f you feel like you want to join us here in this liveblog we’ll be taking your thoughts, questions and whatnot. Just email them to us (to [email protected]) or tweet them (to @Hunter Felt). We’ll post those here on the blog over the next few hours. It’s the Kansas City Chiefs vs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. The game’s scheduled to start at 6:30pm, but I’ll be back well before that to get you prepared for the final NFL game of the season.

Tom Brady goes for…