(Photo: Sports Illustrated)

Super Bowl LVIII

(1) San Francisco 49ers at (3) Kansas City Chiefs 

49ers: The road in the playoffs wasn’t necessarily the smoothest, but they found a way to win. They got all they could handle in the divisional round against the Green Bay Packers, a hungry Green Bay team at that. Then in the NFC Championship, the Lions were getting what they wanted in the first half until a couple of Dan Campbell blunders hurt his team and got their opponent back into the game. Do you remember what I said about them being a physical football team? What’s been my saying throughout the year? “The bully doesn’t like to get bullied” and that was very apparent in the first half of the NFC title game because the Lions were running the football at them and kept doing it until they could stop it. Entering this season, there were only three teams that stood out in the NFC and that was the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and these San Francisco 49ers. Here’s the kicker: The 9ers absolutely destroyed the Cowboys in week five this year and back in December, they had a rematch of the NFC title game from a year ago against the Eagles and they punched them in the mouth and eventually broke the Eagles in the process because we saw how their season unfolded after that game. I said this last week and I’ll say it here again. The only threat to this football team is themselves. What I mean is when they don’t play to their potential and injuries occur, they aren’t who we know them to be, We could play the what if game until we’re all blue in the face, but who knows what would’ve transpired if Brock Purdy didn’t get hurt last year in the NFC title game against the Eagles?, Plus, you did see what happened when they played them again at 100 percent. They have an offense that can score and consistently move the football down the field with the Offensive Player of the Year in Christian McCaffrey, one of the best Tight Ends in the league in George Kittle and the jack of all trades guy in Deebo Samuel. That’s a tough trio for any defense to prepare for. Throughout the season, they separated themselves from the conference and look where they are now. On Sunday, the 49ers will make their eighth Super Bowl appearance in franchise history.

Chiefs: I’ve been watching Andy Reid as a Head Coach for many years now dating back to his days with the Philadelphia Eagles and now in his current gig in Kansas City. This team he had this year is his most mentally tough group out of each team he’s coached since taking the job. Of course, they were the favorites once again to win the AFC West and that goes without saying because they have the best player in the division along with the best coach. You can’t say that about the other three teams in the division, can you? The path to another division title wasn’t smooth sailing. The loss to Buffalo in December and a few weeks after that on Christmas Day against the Las Vegas Raiders, they were upset and lost their sixth game of the year which is the most games they’ve lost since Patrick Mahomes became the starting Quarterback. They were able to regroup and get it right before the playoffs and look what happened. Just because a team has the best record leading up to the playoffs doesn’t mean they will always succeed. In fact, the team who plays the best when it matters the most is what will always stand out to me and that is exactly what the Chiefs have done. Their offense hasn’t been the same this year as we have seen in previous years. However, I love what they did in the Wild Card round against the Miami Dolphins. They displayed balanced and were able to move on to the divisional round. This year marked the first time the Quarterback had to play on the road in the post season and no issue at all. Patrick won another playoff game against Josh Allen and the Bills. They saved their best performance against the Ravens in the AFC title game and I say that because they showed they can be a gritty, physical and nasty football team that can punch you in the mouth and that’s exactly what they did to the top seed in the AFC. In other words, they went into Baltimore and simply took it. When I look at this team, I’m simply reminded of the 2018 New England Patriots. Everyone counted them out just as everyone counted these Chiefs out this year. For the fourth time in five seasons, they are back in the big game and are looking to repeat as champions.

This is usually where I post my x factors for each team, give some more analysis and I predict who will win the football game. This is where the buck stops! I have to keep you waiting somehow! On Sunday, I will be posting a video elaborating more on the matchup, keys to the game, my X factors for both the 49ers and Chiefs, and of course, the winner of Super Bowl LVIII. I can’t believe this is the final preview for this season. Thank you so much for following along. I will see you on Sunday an hour before kickoff!