The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will square off in the 2024 Super Bowl.
In the 2024 Super Bowl, the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs will take on the San Francisco 49ers.
Live coverage of Super Bowl LVIII from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, will air on CBS, Nickelodeon, and Paramount+ for streaming.
Baltimore Ravens lose to Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship:
The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the AFC Championship to advance to their second consecutive Super Bowl, their fourth trip to the NFL championship game in the previous five seasons.
The NFL’s most exciting quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, squared off in Sunday’s game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. After the Ravens’ first drive ended in a three-and-out, the game appeared to be a barn burner.
The next two possessions saw touchdown drives from both sides.The Chiefs’ 10-play, 86-yard drive came to an end when star tight end Travis Kelce (yes, Taylor Swift was there) scored a touchdown reception.
The Ravens fought back with a quick six-play drive that was capped by a 30-yard pass from Jackson to Xavian Flowers, which tied the score in just over two and a half minutes.
The Chiefs then used nine minutes of game time to execute a protracted 16-play touchdown drive. With 10:56 remaining in the second quarter, Isiah Pacheco ran for a two-yard touchdown, giving the Chiefs a 17-7 lead. It would be the last touchdown scored by either side.
Strong defense and a dearth of opportunities defined the rest of the game.The Ravens’ next possession was cut short when the Chiefs recovered a strip sack of Jackson at Baltimore’s 33-yard line.
Despite having excellent field position, Kansas City was unable to convert on a fourth and one run, thus they had nothing on the following drive.
The Chiefs traded punts for the next three possessions, but were able to end the half with a 56-yard field goal.
Two crucial errors in the second half proved to be the Ravens’ undoing. The first occurred on the opening play of the fourth quarter when Flowers slipped in front of a potential score quarter .Jackson’s pass to Isaiah Likely, who was well-covered, on second and 10 from the Kansas City 25-yard line was intercepted in the end zone, ending a promising drive by the Ravens on their next possession. Rather, the Chiefs recovered the ball for a touchback in the endzone.
Nevertheless, despite the Ravens’ issues, the Chiefs’ offense failed to generate any results following the break.
With just 2:34 remaining in the fourth quarter, Justin Tucker’s 43-yard field goal pulled the Ravens within seven points, marking the only score of the second half. The Chiefs were able to end the game with a 32-yard pass from Mahomes to Marquez Valdes-Scantling on third and 9, giving them a new set of downs as the clock approached the two-minute warning.
The Chiefs just needed a few kneeldowns to win the game because the Ravens ran out of timeouts and were unable to stop the clock.
NFC Title: Detroit Lions are defeated by San Francisco 49ers:
The San Francisco 49ers crushed the Detroit Lions 34–31 in the NFC Championship game played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California (yes, Grateful Dead founding member Bob Weir was in attendance).
The Lions were well-positioned to earn their first-ever Super Bowl participation after jumping out to a 24-7 lead at the half. But in the second half, the 49ers stormed back.
The game was tied at two points when San Francisco converted a field goal on its opening play of the third quarter. San Francisco’s next drive ended with a remarkable catch by Brandon Aiyuk, who set himself up for a first and goal at the five-yard line after a defender’s facemask blocked a long ball. Following that, the Niners scored 27 points in a row. With 3:02 left, Elijah Mitchell scored a 3-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 34-24.
Following the game, Lions head coach Dan Campbell was questioned about his choice to go for it and he stated, “I just felt really good about us converting and getting our advantage and preventing them from playing long ball.”
“I understand that it’s simple in retrospect. I don’t regret the choices I made. And that is challenging.
It’s challenging because we failed. It was unable to succeed. However, I don’t… And I am aware that I will be under observation. That’s just part of the job, dude. It just wasn’t meant to be.” With 56 seconds remaining, the Lions came back within three, but they were unable to recover the onside kick that followed. At that point, San Francisco managed to run out the remaining seconds.