If someone told me that the Super Bowl would be between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs at the beginning of the NFL season, I would’ve never believed them. This unlikely scenario has come to life, and next Sunday, both teams will be meeting in a clash for the ages to see who will come out on top with an NFL crown this year. From the Chiefs breakout offensive attack to the stunning Buccaneers defense, let’s take a deeper dive into the up and coming Super Bowl LV matchup.

When Tom Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back during the early days of COVID, it seemed like a wave of players from the NFL wanted to join him down in sunny Tampa. From recently retired Rob Gronkowski to veterans like LeSean McCoy and Ryan Succop, it seemed like everyone in the NFL was finally trying to jump on a Super Bowl-contending Buccaneers roster. Even though the Bucs just came off of their worst season to date, they still had key pieces to surround Brady like wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin along with defensive veterans LaVonte David and Ndamukong Suh that would build this Tampa Bay roster to its highest level of talent in recent years. Even if they had a great 11-5 year, they still had to fight adversity all the way through the playoffs to even get to the big game; they had to fight through Washington, New Orleans, and Green Bay to even get there. Rest assured, they deserved to be there after putting together one of the best NFL postseason runs ever. Even if they got there, they still have a major roadblock in the way.

After Kansas City came off of their first Super Bowl win since 1970, it looked like the Patrick Mahomes led Chiefs could not be stopped. With keeping key players from their Super Bowl roster like Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Sammy Watkins, Tyrann Mathieu, and Chris Jones, the Chiefs were looking to go back to the promised land. After an outstanding 14-2 season, the Chiefs breezed through the playoffs with wins over the Cleveland Browns and the Buffalo Bills, proving to the whole entire league that they were still the team to beat. After all this hard work though, the Chiefs will be faced with their biggest test since last year.

Going into the Super Bowl matchup now, let’s take a look back at the Buccaneers and Chiefs meeting from the regular season to maybe get a feel of how this game will go. The Chiefs did come away with a win 27-24, but the main story was how the Chiefs came out in that game. Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill had 3 touchdowns in the first half alone, and it didn’t take long before we all realized that the Chiefs were still as dominant as they have been for the past two seasons. This matchup should not faze a Bucs fan, though, in that they have had a major step up in their game since that matchup.

Finally, let’s take a look at the future matchup for next Sunday. The Bucs and the Chiefs will meet up in Tampa Bay, Florida on the home field of the Buccaneers, Raymond James Stadium, on February 7 at 6:30 PM to decide the Super Bowl champions. The keys to this game for both teams are a good ground game and a solid defensive game. Both the Chiefs and the Bucs have great passing offenses, but who has the better rushing offense? Statistically, the Bucs do but it could go either way. In my opinion, the Bucs should come away with the ground game, but it all depends on the defensive side of the ball. Both teams have been playing great defense as of late but who will collapse in first? I think that the Buccaneers defense is better in that they are a very high scoring defense and they have a great front 7 that will get pressure on Patrick Mahomes. Even though stats can prove that Tampa Bay is good, I think the Chiefs will come away with a 38-31 win over the Buccaneers to seal their second Super Bowl win in a row and their third in franchise history.

Even though a lot of our favorite teams did not make it to the playoffs or the super bowl this year, we can all appreciate how much joy and fun this NFL season has given to their fanbase and I think we can all agree that this year’s Super Bowl will be one for the ages.