Four years ago this weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers faced off in Super Bowl LIV, one of the last big parties before our nation got swept up in a pandemic. On that Sunday evening, the Chiefs did what they did all postseason long that year — they came back from a double digit deficit to win the game.
Since then, the Chiefs have gone on to win another Super Bowl, just last year, and the 49ers, while relevant, have not made it back to the biggest stage until this season. A lot has changed with each of these teams. The Chiefs are now a team whose calling card os defense. The 49ers have moved off of Jimmy Garoppolo as their quarterback, and are rolling with second year underdog story, Brock Purdy.
Perhaps more than any recent Super Bowl (not involving Tom Brady or Bill Belichick), the word “legacy” has come up in covering this game, legacies for prominent figures with each team. To that end, here are the five individual legacies most affected by the outcome of Sunday’s game:
Patrick Mahomes chasing all-time greats
If there is a modern er quarterback who is on track to make a run at Tom Brady for the all time greatest quarterback, it’s Mahomes, who’s now been to four Super Bowls in the last five years. If Mahomes is able to pull off the win on Sunday, this would give him three titles, putting him in an exclusive club with Brady (7 titles), Joe Montana (4), Terry Bradshaw (4), and Troy Aikman (3) as the only quarterbacks in history with three or more Super Bowl championships.
Andy Reid chasing all time great coaches
After a long run in Philadelphia of more than a decade, Andy Reid’s decade in Kansas City has allowed him the chance to get into conversations with some of the all time greats on the coaching side of things. If the Chiefs pull off the upset on Sunday, that will put Reid in a club with just Bill Belichick (6 titles), Chuck Noll (4), BilL Walsh (3), and Joe Gibbs (3) as the only head coaches with three or more Super Bowl titles.
Kyle Shanahan’s redemption and the father-son angle
Kyle Shanahan is widely regarded as the best current coach in the NFL without a Super Bowl championship to his name. If the Niners are able to get the win on Sunday, Kyle Shanahan and his dad, Mike, would become the first Super Bowl champion father-son duo in NFL history. Also, for Kyle personally, a win would give some measure of redemption from his role in allowing the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history (as the OC in Atlanta and their loss to the Patriots in Super Bowl LI) and a double digit comeback in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win in 2020.
Christian McCaffrey’s ranking and another father-son angle
If you’re looking for another father-son angle, you’ve come to the right place! If the Niners win the game on Sunday, their starting running back Christian McCaffrey and his father Ed (three time Super Bowl champ, one with San Francisco, two with Denver) would become just the second father-son duo to win Super Bowls as players, joining former Giants Steve and Zac DeOssie. In a more subjective legacy discussion, McCaffrey winning a Super Bowl would likely make him the consensus “best running back” of this current era of backs. Ezekiel Elliott and Derrick Henry have more yards, but neither has even been to a Super Bowl, let alone won one.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
