This is a continuation of last week’s story on the winners and losers of Super Bowl 55. This week, we take a look at the losers. 

Tommy Townsend

After an impressive rookie campaign, Tommy Townsend was looking to get his first taste of a championship. However, that taste became bitter after the Chiefs got pushed around in Super Bowl 55. Townsend was on the rougher side of that beat-down, as the rookie clearly suffered from nerves under football’s biggest stage. Townsend shanked pretty much all of his punts, giving Tom Brady and the Buccaneers great field position in key moments. Unfortunately, Townsend could not top off his nice rookie season with a Super Bowl win. 

Tyrann Mathieu

It’s easy to say the Honey Badger had another stellar season in KC. The safety racked up 7 interceptions on the year, which led all safeties. He was the leader of the Chiefs defense and was the best coverage guy on the team, outside of Sneed. However, he had his fair share of rough games, and the Super Bowl was one of them. We saw Mathieu get mauled by Darren Waller earlier in the season, and the Super Bowl was a similar sight. Mathieu was out of his head all night long, missing tackles, getting beat by the Buccs speedy receivers, and trash-talking Brady only to get beat for a touchdown the next play. Mathieu did not play well, and his big mouth really backfired on him. 

The entire offensive line

 This one is simple. Super Bowl 55 was easily the worst game by an offensive line I think I’ve ever seen. Especially at the tackle position. Mike Remmers continued his hate for playing in the Super Bowl, as he was beaten nearly every snap. Patrick Mahomes pursued a Super Bowl record 29 times. He had no time and it showed. The interior didn’t perform well either. I will say that it was not all on the fault of the line, and I’ll discuss why later. The run blocking was solid as well. Still, I said the game would be won in the trenches in my prediction article a few weeks ago, and it looks like that was the right call. 

Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy

Unlike playoff Frank Clark, playoff Andy Reid is not someone liked very well in Chiefs Kingdom. In years past, Andy Reid was heavily criticized for his playoff success, or lack thereof. He became a different coach in the postseason and it hurt his resume dramatically. After years of choking in the playoffs with KC, it looked like Reid had finally gotten it right with Mahomes. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in the Super Bowl. A poor gameplan and lack of adjustments resulted in an ugly game for the Chiefs. Leaving two backup tackles one on one against two elite pass rushers is a recipe for failure. 

The Refs

Contrary to popular belief, a game is almost never lost because of a bad call, or multiple bad calls. Usually, the losing team has more than enough chances to win and just doesn’t execute. Blaming the refs is an easy way to avoid saying your team played like garbage. I am not saying the Chiefs lost because of the referees. I am saying that they turned a boring game into an even worse one. A blowout in the Super Bowl is only fun for the winning team. Everyone else would like an exciting, competitive game. What makes a blowout even worse is when the refs get heavily involved and make the game even slower. There was a magnitude of terrible calls against KC in the Super Bowl. It did nothing but add insult to injury. Some calls were correct, but most were very questionable. There is no doubt that fans would much rather have the refs be quiet during the game. Unfortunately, they made themselves known.