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Andy Richardson

A Day of Football

Rollercoaster year ends on high for Hill

Patrick Mahomes won the Super Bowl MVP, and longtime coach Andy Reid celebrated his first Super Bowl victory as a head coach (he was an assistant when the Packers won XXXI). But the guy who made the biggest play was the guy whose future looked in doubt back in the offseason.

Way back then, Tyreek Hill seemed to be on the verge of being suspended, cut, placed on the commissioner's exempt list. Kansas City drafted Mecole Hardman, who looked an awful lot like a replacement for the league's best big-play threat. And then even after that blew over, Hill got hurt in Week 1 and missed the next month.

So quite a turnaround to him making the huge, momentum-changing play in the Super Bowl, sneaking free deep to catch a 44-yard bomb that converted a 3rd and 15 with San Francisco dominating. Kansas City scored to make it 20-17, then scored twice more to get the win. Mahomes was deserving of the MVP -- his throw was the other half of that game-turning play -- but Hill and his big-play ability was what really won the game.

A few random thoughts:

Kyle Shanahan deserves some blame for this one. I don't know what the hell was going through his head at the end of the first half. To recap, San Francisco forced a punt with 1:48 on the clock and all three timeouts. Rather than using one there and having nearly 2 full minutes and two timeouts to maybe drive into field goal range, he opted to let the clock run down to 1:08. On offense, they then proceeded to run out the clock (they were at their 25, not pinned deep) until picking up a first down, forced by Kansas City shrewdly using a timeout, at which point they took a shot deep, which was completed (the best play of the Super Bowl to that point), only to have it be erased by an offensive pass interference that is basically never, ever called. Anyhoo, that sequence was just a sad bit of coaching by Shanahan.

San Francisco then proceeded to take a third-quarter lead, with some nice throws by Jimmy Garoppolo, and intercept Mahomes twice. Looked like a San Francisco win, but their offense did nothing after that, most notably not leaning on the ground game that had got them to the Super Bowl in the first place. After going up 20-10, five of San Francisco's next eight plays were passes. Shanahan was already connected with the worst collapse in Super Bowl history for Atlanta's loss. Now he's got another on the resume. Groundhog Day!

Backing the best quarterback isn't the worst move. Those of us who grew up in the 80s saw plenty of games where elite quarterbacks like John Elway and Jim Kelly came up short against the likes of Phil Simms, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien. But last night's game was a nice example of how in a close game in the fourth quarter you're better off having a Patrick Mahomes on your side making big plays with his arm or legs than having Jimmy Garoppolo taking an inexcusable fourth-down sack near midfield when you can win the game with a touchdown drive. Garoppolo didn't lose this game on his own -- Shanahan coached a poor game, and San Francisco's defense gave up some big plays -- but he came up very small in the fourth quarter.

Damien Williams. We loved Williams in the preseason, and his largely disappointing season -- injury, LeSean McCoy, a committee backfield -- certainly torpedoed a few fantasy teams. But he had a great, dominant, nearly every snap postseason, as deserving of the MVP yesterday as Mahomes, perhaps moreso. So...will he be the guy in Kansas City's backfield next year? Or will we get another frustrating up and down, hit or miss season? Presuming Kansas City doesn't draft anyone early, I think you select him as a great, all-purpose starter, while acknowledging that you might again be burned. The fact is a lot of different running backs could be successful in this offense, and Kansas City will make sure to have other options on the roster.

Sammy Watkins. Watkins had a trash year after the first two weeks of the season -- right up until his LAST two weeks of the season, where he tore up the AFC Championship game and then had a very good Super Bowl. Watkins said something last week about taking the 2020 season off, which was odd. Kansas City doesn't seem likely to bring him back on his current contract, at $14 million. But no one should underestimate his contributions to the team's playoff run, or the reality that Demarcus Robinson doesn't look like a viable replacement and Mecole Hardman might not be either. If Watkins is back, there are worse mid-to-late-round wide receivers to draft.

Halftime show. Most everyone at the Super Bowl party I went to enjoyed it, for different reasons. My Mom expressed some reservations. I think that's all I'll say.

Commercials. Favorite -- by far -- was the Bill Murray Groundhog Day one, which I didn't actually see during the game itself but online a few hours beforehand. Marketing genius. Also enjoyed the Jason Momoa spot, the Take 5, and the typically excellent Doritos commercial. The NFL 100 spot that introduced thing was also pretty awesome, if you don't love little kids running onto a football field what can I say, you have no soul.

Looking ahead: The standard comment after Super Bowls is, "They'll be back for plenty more chances." Truth is that some teams do make it back, again and again, but many if not most don't. Atlanta? Carolina?

Patrick Mahomes will be Kansas City's quarterback for a long time. They're getting back there, probably multiple times in the next few years. There's no other potential dynasty in the AFC right now, except maybe Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. Though they'll need to win a playoff game first.

The Shanahan offense is a proven commodity and we'll surely see San Francisco in the playoffs again. But...they play in a tough division with two other recent Super Bowl visitors and quality coaching staffs, some defensive talent, etc. The Packers, the Saints, maybe the Eagles, Vikings, or Cowboys -- it's going to be tough. I don't think it's a given San Francisco is getting back there right away. Another step up from Garoppolo and more consistency on offense will probably be needed for the 49ers to get that sixth ring.

And that's a wrap for the 2019 season. We'll say a few more farewells, but probably be looking at incoming rookies and the 2020 season...eh, maybe tomorrow and certainly by next week. Goodbye 2019! Hello 2020. Enjoy what offseason there actually is these days, because we'll be looking ahead before you know it.

Thanks for reading.

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