Final score: Chiefs fall flat, lose 31-9 to Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV

The lasting memory from Super Bowl LV for Kansas City Chiefs fans will be quarterback Patrick Mahomes frantically trying to avoid the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ pass rush. It happened throughout the game — and was biggest culprit in the Chiefs’ 31-9 loss. Combined with a dominant offensive performance, the Buccaneers never let Kansas City have a realistic chance.

Mahomes finished with 266 passing yards on 25 of 47 passing — including two interceptions. Tight end Travis Kelce totaled 10 catches and 133 receiving yards. Running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire finished with 64 rushing yards. Bucs’ quarterback Tom Brady earned 201 passing yards and three scores — while running backs Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones combined for 150 yards on the ground. Tight end Rob Gronkowski caught two scores.

On the opening possession, the Buccaneers had minimal gains on the first two plays to setup a third-and-6. The potential conversion was missed because a throw to wide receiver Chris Godwin was wide of his outstretched hands.

The Chiefs took over on their own 33-yard line. After two uneventful plays, Mahomes converted a third-and-7 with a scramble . On the ensuing second down, Mahomes missed a tightly-covered Mecole Hardman down the left sideline. For third-and-8, Mahomes attempted a deep throw to Hardman — but an incompletion forced the Chiefs to punt.

After a touchback, Tampa Bay took over with 11 minutes remaining in the first quarter. They handed off to running back Ronald Jones for a 15-yard gain on the first play. They tried to get tricky with a reverse on the following snap, but defensive end Frank Clark was there to make the tackle for loss. A short gain set up third-and-8, where Clark made another play by sacking Tom Brady.

A short punt put the Chiefs at their own 38-yard line. They started with a short reverse play to wide receiver Tyreek Hill. The next play, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire powered through a crowd of defenders to rush for a first down. Mahomes scrambled on the following play to earn another first down. After an offsides penalty and a negative running play, the Chiefs got themselves into third-and-long. A scrambling throw to a contested Hill in the end zone fell incomplete — and kicker Harrison Butker converted a 49-yard field goal for the Chiefs to take a 3-0 lead.

With roughly five minutes to go in the first quarter, Tampa took over and ran for two straight plays, setting up third-and-1. Fournette carried for the first down. The first down pass fell incomplete, but a holding penalty on cornerback Bashaud Breeland made it an automatic first down. A 16-yard pass to wide receiver Antonio Brown put the Bucs in Kansas City territory.

On the next play, Brady found tight end Cameron Brate on a screen pass for 15 yards. Fournette took off on the next snap for 11 yards. After a short screen pass to Brown, Brady found tight end Rob Gronkowski in the flat for a score — making the game 7-3 as the first quarter came to a close.

The Chiefs opened the second quarter with a third-and-4 attempt from their own 43-yard line. The conversion attempt failed with an incomplete screen pass to running back Darrel Williams. The proceeding punt landed at the Tampa Bay 30-yard line.

Two unsuccessful plays set up third-and-8. but defensive tackle Chris Jones drew an unnecessary roughness penalty to give Tampa Bay a first down at their 48-yard line. Two rushing plays gained another first down. On the next snap, Brady found wide receiver Mike Evans open across the middle to get the Buccaneers inside the Chiefs’ 5-yard line.

After a timeout, two unsuccessful goal-to-go plays set up third down. A great run stuff forced Tampa Bay into a fourth-and-goal attempt. They once again handed off to Jones — who was stood up on the goal line in a crucial goal-line stop from linebacker Damien Wilson and Jones.

Taking over from inside their own 1-yard line, the Chiefs’ offense began with a 14-yard throw-and-catch to Hill. Two unsuccessful plays later, Mahomes looked for Kelce to earn a first down — but the ball went off his hands for an incompletion. After a special teams penalty on linebacker Ben Niemann, punter Tommy Townsend shanked a punt and gave Tampa Bay great field position at the Kansas City 38-yard line.

After two short passes, the Chiefs forced a third-and-4. Safety Tyrann Mathieu intercepted Brady off a tipped pass — but it came back because of a holding call on cornerback Charvarius Ward. On the ensuing third-and-5, Brady’s pass fell incomplete. Kicker Ryan Succop converted a 40-yard field goal — but an offsides penalty on cornerback Antonio Hamilton turned the play into first down.

Brady took advantage of the second chance by immediately finding Gronkowski in the back of the end zone. The extra point extended the Tampa Bay lead to 14-3.

Following a touchback, the Chiefs started their drive with a 13-yard gain to Kelce through the air. They followed that up with another first-down conversion two plays later. After a 10-yard scramble by Mahomes to earn another first down, Edwards-Helaire gained seven yards on the ground. An 11-yard gain to Kelce put the Chiefs inside the red zone at the two minute warning.

The Chiefs got themselves into another third down, but couldn’t convert. They relied on Butker to get them within a possession, converting the 34-yard field goal to make the score 14-6.

With one minute remaining in the second quarter, the Buccaneers took over and suffered a loss of a yard on their first play. A gain of eight gave them third-and-long with nearly 40 seconds left. They found Gronkowski for five yards on the next play. As the clock wound below 20 seconds, Brady’s deep pass fell incomplete towards Mike Evans — but a pass interference flag was thrown on Breeland. Another first down conversion put Tampa Bay at the Chiefs’ 9-yard line with 13 seconds remaining.

On the following play, Mathieu was called for a questionable pass interference penalty — setting up a short touchdown throw to Antonio Brown that gave Tampa Bay a 21-6 halftime lead.

Kansas City started out the second half with a 26-yard rush by running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire to get close to midfield. A nine-yard gain to Kelce set up a second-and-short — which was converted by another rush courtesy of Edwards-Helaire. From the Buccaneers’ 37-yard line, Darrel Williams took a carry for three yards. After no gain by Hardman set up a third down, and pressure forced a Mahomes incompletion. Butker shortened the deficit to 21-9 with his third field goal.

From their own 26, Tampa Bay started with a three-yard gain on the ground. Following a short gain on second down, Brady dumped off to Fournette for a 12-yard first down conversion. After a short rush, Brady found Gronkowski across the middle for 25 yards. The next play, Fournette extended the lead to 28-9 with a 27-yard scoring rush.

With seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, Kansas City answered by trying to get something going — but a forced throw was tipped up and intercepted by rookie safety Antoine Winfield Jr. and returned to the Chiefs’ 45-yard line.

Tampa Bay used their possession to move deep into Chiefs’ territory — starting off with a 15-yard completion to Fournette. Following two runs, a third-and-1 was converted on a Jones run. Two incompletions later, Brady recovered the fumbled snap and to set up a 52-yard field goal attempt that Succop converted, stretching the Buccaneers’ lead to 31-9.

With under three minutes to go in the third quarter, the Chiefs began their drive with an accepted defensive penalty and a first down conversion by Edwards-Helaire. On second-and-long, Mahomes found Hill for 21 yards to get into Tampa Bay territory. A 13-yard gain from Watkins took Kansas City into the fourth quarter.

Trailing by 22 points, the Chiefs got into the red zone with a 17-yard pass to Kelce. On the next third down, pressure forced a wild incompletion from Mahomes. Following the Chiefs’ first timeout of the second half, Mahomes tried for a miraculous completion to Darrel Williams — but the ball went through the running back’s hands and ended the drive.

With the fourth quarter still young, Tampa Bay kept the clock running with a long, meticulous possession. Kansas City eventually got a stop because of a deep incompletion to Gronkowski. The ensuing punt was fair caught by punt returner Mecole Hardman at the Chiefs’ 7-yard line.

On the first play of the drive, Mahomes found Kelce over the middle for 33 yards — but the newly-found momentum was quickly ended by a sack on Mahomes. As the clock ticked below seven minutes to go, a roughing the passer penalty gave the Chiefs a first down from their 48-yard line. Kelce took them across midfield with a 12-yard gain on the next snap.

On a third-and-1, Mahomes found Hill for the conversion. Another Hill reception was taken off the board by a holding penalty on left tackle Mike Remmers. An ensuing incompletion set the Chiefs up in second-and-20 when play was paused because a fan ran on the field.

Mahomes dropped back on the next play and was knocked to the ground for a sack by defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. On a fourth-and-10, Mahomes heaved a prayer for Hill over the middle that fell incomplete.

After a taunting penalty on Winfield, the Bucs looked to take the clock down to triple-zeroes — but failed todo so after an incompletion on third-and-five.

Following the punt return, the Chiefs tried to shrink their deficit — but ultimately failed and turned the ball over. Tampa Bay took over and closed out the Super Bowl.

Special teams

Kick returner Byron Pringle returned a kick 41 yards at the end of the first quarter.

Linebacker Ben Niemann earned a holding penalty on a punt in the second quarter — negating great punt coverage by Pringle. The next punt was shanked badly.

Butker made the score 21-9 in the third quarter with a 52-yard field goal.

Rapid reaction

The game’s rapid reaction will be posted to the homepage shortly.

Statistics