Super Bowl LVIII Ultimate Guide: From the Cheif dynasty to Taylor Swift here’s your guide to the Super Bowl

Las Vegas hosts its first Super Bowl on Monday morning, when the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium, home of the Raiders. It’s a matchup that has NFL fans licking their lips, complete with superstar players, strategic wizards and storylines aplenty. A dynasty will rise or fall, reputations will be made or lost and we’ll probably get countless shots of Taylor Swift jumping around in a private suite. So, here’s everything you need to know about Super Bowl LVIII. ROAD TO VEGAS Chiefs: Kansas City made the playoffs as the No.3 seed in the AFC, after an 11-6 season in which the team never won more than two games in a row and frequently struggled on offence. Losses to the Bills and Eagles, as well as lowly Raiders and Broncos, made a repeat for the reigning Super Bowl winners look unlikely, and it was only a stifling defence that kept them in contention. What a difference the playoffs made, with Kansas City knocking off the Bills and Ravens, two of the hottest teams in the league, to punch their ticket to Vegas. 49ers: San Francisco went 12-5 and got some tie-breaker help to wrest the NFC’s No.1 seed from the similarly 12-5 Cowboys and Lions. The Niners were streaky this season, with a five-game winning run and a three-game losing skid. As a result, San Francisco alternated between looking like the most dominant team in football (See: beatdowns of Dallas and Philadelphia) and also-rans (See: blowout losses to Baltimore and Cincinatti). Their playoff record is equally patchy, with comeback wins over the Packers and Lions. The latter saw the Niners dig their way out of a 24-7 hole, mostly due to Detroit mistakes. THE QUARTERBACKS Chiefs: Superstar Patrick Mahomes is playing in his fourth Super Bowl and chasing his third Lombardi Trophy before the age of 29, putting him on pace with the GOAT, Tom Brady. This season has been a down year for No.15 on the stat sheet, due to a subpar receiving corps, but Playoff Mahomes is a real thing. If his 17-game postseason resume was a regular season it would be stand as a top-five season for any QB ever, and a third of the league’s franchises don’t have as many playoff touchdowns in their entire histories as he’s already accounted for. And this season the two-time league MVP has been as close to perfection in the postseason as a QB can get. 49ers: Brock Purdy earned the unwanted nickname of Mr. Irrelevant after being selected dead last in the 2022 NFL Draft. Despite that, Purdy unseated the team’s incumbent QBs and has gone 17-4 in 21 regular-season starts. This season he has more yards, more TDs, a higher completion rate, fewer interceptions and a higher quarterback rating than Mahomes, and received considerably more MVP votes (97) than the Chiefs QB (12). However, critics point to the prodigious production of previous QBs in head coach Kyle Shanahan’s scheme and question if Purdy is any more than a game manager. With two unconvincing but ultimately successful playoff games under his belt this year, Purdy will be looking to silence the doubters with a win in Vegas. THE COACHES Chiefs: Head coach Andy Reid makes his fifth Super Bowl appearance, aiming for a third win and another entry in a Hall of Fame resume. Fourth on the all-time wins list, the 65-year-old is renowned for being an offensive mastermind (and loud Hawaiian shirts), and is sure to have new wrinkles to his game plan. Questions persist over his clock management in critical situations. Could retire if he wins. 49ers: The 44-year-old Kyle Shanahan is widely considered to be the NFL’s pre-eminent offensive guru, with a scheme that often seems unstoppable when all his weapons are healthy and on the field. Until late this season, Shanahan’s Niners also had a reputation for being unable to come back from deficits. They’ve shaken that monkey off their back, but this coach is yet to live down two Super Bowl collapses – in 2019 to Reid’s Chiefs, and as the offensive coordinator when the Falcons infamously blew a 28-3 lead to the Patriots in Super Bowl LI. THE X-FACTORS 49ers: San Francisco is a team of superstars on both sides of the ball, so singling out one game-breaker is no easy task. The NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year, running back Christian McCaffrey, is an obvious choice, but even a player of his calibre can be bottled up. Stopping receiver Deebo Samuel is another thing altogether. Used out of the backfield or out wide, Deebo will be moved around the field as the ultimate chess piece, and it’s nigh on impossible for one defender to bring him to ground. A match-up nightmare. Chiefs: Let’s not take the easy way out and highlight tight-end Travis Kelce, who gets the lion’s share of targets from Mahomes and could be the most dominant TE in NFL playoff history. Kelce will eat, make no mistake. But an even bigger X-factor for Kansas City is the guy who might only see the field a handful of times – kicker Harrison Butker. The Chiefs won multiple games off Butker’s boot this season, and he’s 5-0 from 50-plus yards and 7-0 in the postseason. Meanwhile, The Niners have rookie Jake Moody, who has struggled mightily. If this game comes down to a field goal at the death, the Chiefs have a massive advantage. AUSSIES IN ACTION Only one to watch for – Gosnells punter Mitch Wishnowsky, who was taken by the 49ers in the 2019 NFL Draft. This season he averages 47.7 yards per punt, with a longest punt of 67 yards. The well-built former tradie occasionally makes headlines (rare for a punter) for unusual plays, and is aiming to become the first Aussie to win a Super Bowl. THE HISTORY 49ers: Over the last five seasons, the Niners have been the cream of the NFC, reaching the playoffs four times and winning two conference championships. This is their first Super Bowl since the 2019 season, when San Fran lost despite holding a 20-10 lead, midway through the fourth quarter against the Chiefs. Kansas City then scored 21 unanswered points to win 31-20. The 49ers haven’t won the Big Game since the 1994 season, but this storied franchise has notched five Super Bowl victories. Chiefs: Kansas City are in their fourth Super Bowl in five years, with two wins to show for it. Talk of a Patriots-esque dynasty will only get louder should Reid and Mahomes get a third ring. The duo’s first Super Bowl together in 2020 ended a franchise drought that stretched back to 1970. Only eight NFL teams have won consecutive titles, so the Chiefs are looking to join an exclusive club. CHIEFS STORYLINES Offence: The Chiefs haven’t set the world on fire on offence this season, sitting outside the top 10 in points per game (21.8). But they’ve looked like a different team in the playoffs, with big plays coming from previously underwhelming receivers and a resurgent Kelce. While it’s hard to take the ball out of Mahomes’ hands, Kansas City’s ground game could theoretically exploit a 49ers defence that has been soft against the run, especially in the post-season. Isiah Pacheco at RB is one to watch. Defence: Kansas City’s defence has evolved into a juggernaut this season, holding teams to a meagre 17.3 points per game during the regular season and an astonishing 13.7 points in the postseason. The Chiefs also have a league-best four takeaways in the playoffs. This unit, under coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, holds the key to victory if it can stymie the Niners’ vast array of playmakers. Mahomes has never had the luxury of a great defence, which lowers the bar immensely on how many points the offence needs to win. That’s huge. Some questions against the run, though. 49ERS STORYLINES Offence: What more can you say about the weapons at Coach Shanahan’s disposal? We’ve spoken about McCaffrey and Deebo, two of the league’s most dangerous and unique playmakers, but don’t snooze on TE George Kittle, who has a proven ability to take over a game if featured in the attack. And that could well happen, given the Chiefs’ deficiencies at linebacker. That weakness also manifests in the run game, and it’s worth noting the 49ers boast a top-three rushing attack. And don’t be surprised if fullback Kyle Juszczyk has a more critical play than receiver Brandon Aiyuk, given how good the Chiefs have been against top receivers this season. Defence: General Manager John Lynch has invested heavily in the defensive line, making it the most expensive D-line in the NFL. A unit consisting of Nick Bosa, Chase Young, Javon Hargrave, Arik Armstead, Javon Kinlaw and Randy Gregory should terrify opposing offences, but this group has underwhelmed in two playoff games, accounting for just two sacks. Even if the D-line steps up it might not matter, because Mahomes gets the ball out of his hands so quickly, not giving rushers a chance to get home. And No.15’s ability to extend plays with his legs is something the Niners simply must stop, or they’ll pay the price. San Fran has an excellent linebacker duo in Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw, which will be crucial in the matchup against Kelce. TAYLOR SWIFT EFFECT Even the most diehard football fan must concede that pop queen Taylor Swift has been the biggest storyline of this NFL season. Her relationship with Kelce has become a true pop culture phenomenon, and could drive a ratings record for the biggest event on the American sporting calendar. If she gets to the game, that is. T-Swizzle’s Eras World Tour hits Japan this weekend, but, such is the focus on her attendance, that the Japanese embassy in the US issued a statement confirming the singer could overcome a 12-hour flight and 17-hour time difference to “comfortably” arrive in Vegas before kickoff. What does that mean for the game itself? Well, Kelce is the rarest of pro athletes that performs best when the spotlight is brightest, so the attention Swift brings is almost certain to bring out the best in the tight-end. That’s bad news for the Niners. Tay-Tay’s presence has had another impact – it has galvanised the casual fan (and a rump of Trump supporters) to barrack against the Chiefs, with the reigning champs somehow becoming the villains of Super Bowl LVIII. Something to watch for: Will Kelce pop the question if he wins? The Halftime Show The Super Bowl Halftime Show is one of the biggest gigs in the music biz, offering a potential audience measured in the hundreds of millions. Legendary examples include LVI’s super collab between Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar; Jennifer Lopez and Shakira in Super Bowl LIV and the Rolling Stones in Super Bowl XL. And who could forget the left shark in Katy Perry’s halftime show for Super Bowl XLIX, or the most infamous moment of all, Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” with Justin Timberlake at Super Bowl XXXVIII? While it may not seem as exciting as all of those, there’s a lot of buzz building for this year’s performer, R’n’B superstar Usher, who’s tipped to surprise us with some of his big-name collaborators over the years. FYI: the anthem this year will be sung by America’s “Queen of Country Music”, Reba McEntire. Super Bowl Ads For people who aren’t so invested in what happens on the gridiron, the Super Bowl might be more interesting for what happens during the commercial breaks. Given the huge TV audience, a 30-second spot sells for a whopping US$7 million, and big companies might spend that much and more on the production of a bespoke advertisement to be played during the game. Hollywood studios drop movie trailers – expect a first look at Deadpool 3 and Twisters – and brands will continue Super Bowl ad storylines that have been running for years. For Aussie audiences, track the ads down on YouTube. Prediction On paper, the 49ers have advantages on both sides of the ball, and boast an offence and defence that ranked in the top 3 in the league this season. That’s a recipe for winning championships. The Chiefs scored one less touchdown per game than the Niners on average, and don’t have nearly the same amount of offensive playmakers. So, do the 49ers run away with it? Not so fast. Kansas City has one thing San Fran does not – the greatest quarterback in the league right now. If this game comes down to a final drive for each team, there’s no way you can bet against Mahomes. SCORE: Chiefs 27 – 49ers 24 SUPER BOWL MVP: Travis Kelce