The most defensive Super Bowl
author: ethan butterfield | a and c editor
Well, defense won this championship / Jeremy Davis
Seriously, people paid money to see that live
Well… here we are. After the regular season ended in the NFL, I had high hopes for the playoffs. There were a solid amount of teams this year that were on quite the roll heading into the postseason, teams that don’t typically see the postseason, adding a spark of interest to it.
The Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Chargers, Houston Texans, all of these organizations (as well as a couple of others) looked primed and ready to make a run for the Super Bowl. That is, until fate struck. As we all know, the Bears missed the divisional round by a field goal twice; the Texans forgot how to play offense, which got them eliminated; and the Chargers, the team that actually made it to the divisional round, lost to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, because that’s how this things usually go.
Despite those teams not making it to the conference championship, there was still hope for an interesting Super Bowl matchup. I myself was glad to see the L.A. Rams win over the New Orleans Saints, as the Rams franchise hadn’t been to the big game since 2001. As well, the organization has only won one Super Bowl, which, as most football fanatics know, is known as “The Greatest Show on Turf,” led by the legendary QB Kurt Warner and RB Marshall Faulk.
However, I only got one half of the matchup that I was looking for as the Kansas City Chiefs were, unfortunately, eliminated by, you guessed it, Tom Brady and the Patriots (I can almost hear our former E.I.C Matt Wincherauk laughing). I’m not the biggest fan of Kansas City, but it’s hard to deny that a Kansas City, L.A. Super Bowl wouldn’t have been fun to watch. The aerial attack from both teams would have been all over the place.
Alas, we entered Super Bowl 53 with the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams. How did the game go? Well, it was one of the best defensive games of football I’ve ever seen (editor’s note: and the most boring). Both the Patriots and the Rams held each other to a combined total of 16 points all game. 16 points! You know what the lowest combined total of points was in the Super Bowl before this game? 21 points! That the Miami Dolphins formerly held title when, at Super Bowl 7, they defeated the Washington Redskins 14 to 7, happening during their perfect season. Low scoring aside, it’s like I mentioned before, Super Bowl 53 was still exciting to watch in regard to the both teams defense. Of course, only one defense could prevail.
It was the New England Patriots in the end that held the Rams to a mind-blowing three points. It’s even more mind-blowing knowing that those three points came from a 53-yard field goal, no easy feat as I’m sure one could imagine. Despite that impressive feat, an even more impressive one took shape at game’s end. Tom Brady earned his sixth Super Bowl ring. Is there any bright side for the Rams after the big game? Well, Johnny Hekker earned himself a place in the record books with a 65-yard punt, the longest in Super Bowl history…so… L.A.’s got that going for them.
It was an interesting game to be sure. Is there anything other than higher scoring that could have made it better? Yes, but I think only Spongebob fans will agree with me, so I may as well keep it to myself.
