Super Bowl LIV, 2020: Kansas City 31 San Francisco 20

Super Bowl LIV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2019 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers, 31–20. The game was played on February 2, 2020, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, which is the home of the Dolphins. This was the eleventh Super Bowl hosted by the South Florida region and the sixth Super Bowl hosted in Miami Gardens, which hosted Super Bowl XLIV ten years earlier.

This was the Chiefs' first Super Bowl victory since Super Bowl IV and their first NFL championship since joining the league in the 1970 AFL–NFL merger. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes led Kansas City to a 12–4 regular season record and the team's third Super Bowl appearance overall. With the emergence of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, the 49ers finished the regular season with a 13–3 record and advanced to their seventh Super Bowl appearance overall.

The first half of the game was back and forth between both teams, with the game tied at 10 at halftime. In the third quarter, the 49ers began to pull away, with a Robbie Gould field goal and a touchdown run by Raheem Mostert giving them a 20–10 lead heading into the fourth quarter. However, over the final 6:13 of the game, the Chiefs offense completed two touchdown drives with Mahomes throwing touchdown passes to Travis Kelce and Damien Williams, to take the lead just before the two-minute warning. The Chiefs then stopped the 49ers on defense, and a late touchdown run by Damien Williams, as well as a Kendall Fuller interception, sealed the victory and ended the Chiefs' 50-year championship drought as well as earning Andy Reid his first NFL championship as a head coach. Mahomes was named Super Bowl MVP, having completed 26 of 42 pass attempts for 286 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, as well as rushing for 29 yards and one touchdown.

The game's broadcast in the United States by Fox, along with the halftime show headlined by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, was seen by an estimated 102 million viewers—a slight increase over Super Bowl LIII in 2019 (which had seen the smallest audience for the game in 10 years). Due to the seating capacity of Hard Rock Stadium, this game also had the third lowest attendance in Super Bowl history (behind Super Bowl I and Super Bowl LV the following year).

The officiating in Super Bowl LIV was met with criticism, with many questionable calls in favor of the Chiefs. Some have noted that head referee Bill Vinovich had blown a controversial pass interference call in the 2018-19 NFC Championship Game.

Game summary
First half
San Francisco won the coin toss and deferred, allowing the Chiefs to start with the ball. After forcing the Chiefs to punt on the opening drive, San Francisco drove 62 yards in 10 plays, including a 32-yard run by receiver Deebo Samuel. Robbie Gould finished the drive with a 38-yard field goal to give the 49ers a 3–0 lead. Kansas City responded by driving 75 yards in 15 plays. Patrick Mahomes completed five of seven passes for 40 yards on the drive, while Damien Williams rushed four times for 26 yards. Mahomes scored on a one-yard touchdown run to give the Chiefs a 7–3 lead with 31 seconds left in the first quarter.

On the second play of the second quarter, a heavy pass rush forced 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to throw a hurried pass that was intercepted by defensive back Bashaud Breeland, giving Kansas City a first down on their own 44-yard line. Mahomes completed a 28-yard pass to Sammy Watkins on the next play, sparking a 43-yard drive that ended with Harrison Butker kicking a 31-yard field goal, giving the Chiefs a 10–3 lead. San Francisco responded by moving the ball 80 yards in seven plays, with five plays gaining more than 10 yards each. On the last play, Garoppolo threw the ball to fullback Kyle Juszczyk, who managed to make the catch through tight coverage by safety Daniel Sorensen, break a tackle attempt by Sorensen and then dive into the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown. The game was tied at 10–10 with five minutes left in the half. After a Kansas City punt, Garoppolo's 42-yard pass to George Kittle could have set San Francisco up in the red zone, but that was nullified by an offensive pass interference penalty against Kittle. With the penalty pushing them back to their own 35-yard line, the 49ers let the remaining six seconds expire to end the half with the score tied 10–10, the fourth time a Super Bowl had been tied at the midway point.

Second half
San Francisco took the second half kickoff and drove 60 yards in nine plays, with Emmanuel Sanders catching two passes for 20 yards, Samuel rushing for 14 yards and Juszczyk hauling in a 14-yard reception. Gould finished the drive with a 42-yard field goal, giving the 49ers a 13–10 lead. Linebacker Fred Warner intercepted Mahomes on the next drive, returning it three yards to the San Francisco 45-yard line. Garoppolo started the ensuing drive with a 16-yard pass to Samuel. Three plays later, on 3rd-and-8, he threw a 26-yard pass to receiver Kendrick Bourne and then followed it up with a 10-yard pass to Juszczyk on the Chiefs 1-yard line. Raheem Mostert ran the ball into the end zone on the next play, increasing the 49ers' lead to 20–10 with 2:35 left in the third quarter.

On Kansas City's next drive, they drove the ball to the 49ers 23-yard line. On a 3rd-and-6, Mahomes threw a pass intended for Tyreek Hill that was slightly behind the receiver. Hill tried to reach back for it, but the ball bounced off his arm and was intercepted by cornerback Tarvarius Moore, who returned it seven yards to the 49ers 20-yard line with 11:57 left in the game. After the Chiefs defense rallied to force a punt, Kansas City got the ball with 8:53 left in the game and went on to score touchdowns on their next three drives. First, they moved the ball 62 yards in 10 plays. After a challenge by San Francisco succeeded in overturning a completed pass, the Chiefs faced 3rd-and-15 with 7:13 left in the game. Mahomes called the play "Jet Chip Wasp", which resulted in a 44-yard completion from Mahomes to Hill from the Chiefs 35-yard line. Two plays later, Moore committed pass interference while trying to cover tight end Travis Kelce in the end zone, moving the ball 20 yards to the 49ers one-yard line, and Mahomes threw to Kelce for a touchdown on the next play. San Francisco had to punt after three plays and Kansas City quickly stormed back for another score, advancing 65 yards in seven plays, the longest a 38-yard completion from Mahomes to Watkins. On 3rd-and-goal from the 49ers 5-yard line, Mahomes threw the ball to Williams, who just managed to stretch the ball across the goal line before going out of bounds. The touchdown was a close call, but was upheld by a booth review, giving Kansas City a 24–20 lead with 2:44 remaining in the game.

With the chance to mount a game-winning drive, the 49ers drove to the Chiefs 49-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs after three incomplete passes and Garoppolo getting sacked on 4th-and-10 by Chiefs linebacker Frank Clark with 1:33 left in the game. Trying to run out the clock with the ground game, Williams carried the ball on the next two plays, first picking up four yards and then went the distance for a 38-yard touchdown, increasing Kansas City's lead to 31–20 with 1:12 remaining and essentially putting the game away. Chiefs defensive back Kendall Fuller made an interception on the 49ers' following drive, allowing the Chiefs to run out the clock and secure the Super Bowl, their first in 50 years and second overall.

Postgame
Mahomes finished the game with 26 completions on 42 attempts for 286 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions, while also rushing for 29 yards and a touchdown, gaining him the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award (MVP). He joined Terry Bradshaw and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to win the MVP despite throwing multiple interceptions. Mahomes was the youngest player ever to win the award at 24 years and 138 days. He is also the third African American quarterback to win a Super Bowl, after Doug Williams in Super Bowl XXII and Russell Wilson in Super Bowl XLVIII.

Other notable statistical performances included Hill's nine receptions for 105 yards and Watkins' five catches for 98 yards. Williams was the top rusher of the game with 17 carries for 104 yards and a touchdown, while also catching four passes for 29 yards and another score. For San Francisco, Garoppolo completed 20 of 31 passes for 219 yards and a touchdown, with two interceptions. Samuel had three carries for 53 yards, setting the Super Bowl record for rushing yards by a wide receiver, and caught five passes for 39 yards.

With this win, Kansas City became the first NFL team to come back from a 10-point (or more) deficit in three playoff games in the same season. The Chiefs Super Bowl win also completed a ten-year stretch in which each current Missouri-based team in the four major American sports leagues won a title (joining the St. Louis Cardinals, who won the 2011 World Series; the Kansas City Royals, who won the 2015 World Series; and the St. Louis Blues, who won the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals). In addition, Sporting Kansas City, Kansas City's Major League Soccer franchise, won MLS Cup in 2013.

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