Dynasty vs destiny anew for Super Bowl LVIII

MANILA, Philippines – It’s another case of dynasty versus destiny

A great team and a multi-champion looking to cement its legacy. That’s the Kansas City Chiefs.

Do the San Francisco 49ers even earn that “Team of Destiny” tag? In my opinion, that should be the now-dispatched Detroit Lions.

The Chiefs are such overwhelming favorites to win their third Super Bowl in five years. Tom Brady is only a year retired and even before he did, the next great quarterback arrived in Patrick Mahomes and the question for him now, what more is he going to achieve? What ghosts are he chasing on his way to the Hall of Fame?

We aren’t suggesting that the Vince Lombardi Trophy be handed to the Chiefs. After all, 19 of the heavy favorites in Super Bowl history have lost. And Kansas experienced that when they lost to Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-9.

Furthermore, they were underdogs heading into the post-season and had to defeat the higher-seeded Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens.

Now that they have seemed to overcome their regular season woes and are humming like Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, they are heavy favorites.

Let’s sing the Chiefs’ praises…

Kansas kept ball possession for 2:05:36 in the post-season to the paltry 27:30 of the 49ers. That is a lot shorter than the drive from the Mission District to Oakland! 

For all of their offensive struggles, Andy Reid has made sure the Chiefs’ defense has been spot on, holding foes to 17.3 points in the regular season and an even better 13.7 in the postseason.

Mahomes is on pace to win three Super Bowl Most Valuable Player awards in a five-year span. Should he accomplish that, he will join Brady (five) and San Francisco great Joe Montana (three). 

Why are the 49ers underdogs?

The 49ers squeaked past the Green Bay Packers, 24-21, for their first win after trailing by five points or more under head coach Kyle Shanahan. And they also escaped the Lions, 34-31, who blew a 17-point halftime lead.

The last two points give San Francisco a fighting chance. They are a grind it out team. 

The question is, can "Mr. Irrelevant" — quarterback Brock Purdy, the last player to be selected in the NFL draft two seasons ago — lead his 49ers to victory?

Purdy can be inspired about the feats of the Minnesota Vikings’ Brad Johnson, who was selected much lower than himself — 277th in 12 draft rounds as opposed to the current seven rounds, and yet, won Super Bowl XXXVII.

And there are the undrafteds in Kurt Warner, who won Super Bowl XXXIV and the Super Bowl and NFL MVP with the St. Louis Rams, and Jake Delhomme, who led the Carolina Panthers to the Big Dance (Super Bowl XXXVIII) where they ran out of steam against Brady’s Patriots. 

The New York Giants’ Jeff Hostetler started two games in his first four years then suddenly came off the bench when Phil Simms got injured in Week 14 of the 1986-87 season. He led the Giants to the Super Bowl XXV title against the Bills. 

So it is possible, and that is why this game is played.

Super Bowl LVIII between the Chiefs and the 49ers will be televised live in the Philippines on Monday, February 12, at 7:30 a.m. on the Premier Sports Channel on Sky Cable and Cignal as well as on streaming application Blast TV.