| Sunday, Feb 09, 2025 - NFL Football Game | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 06:30 PM | Kansas City Chiefs | -2 | -110 | -131 | Ov | 49.5 | -115 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Philadelphia Eagles | +2 | -110 | +111 | Un | 49.5 | -105 |
Chiefs excited to try to make history.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs had been understated in their push for history, acknowledging their chance to become the first NFL team to win three consecutive titles in the Super Bowl era but saying little else.
That all changed in the moments following the Chiefs' 32-29 win over the Buffalo Bills in Sunday's AFC Championship Game, a win that sends them to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans against the Philadelphia Eagles.
From the hastily constructed stage on the Arrowhead Stadium playing field, with confetti falling, Patrick Mahomes spoke for not only himself but his teammates when he said, "I'm excited to get to New Orleans and try to make history.''
The Chiefs are the ninth NFL team to win back-to-back Super Bowl championships but the first to return for a third consecutive season.
"It's an amazing achievement,'' Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said. "It's hard to even put into words what it means to have the opportunity that we will here in two weeks in New Orleans. So special.''
Asked why the first eight teams to try for a three-peat failed, Hunt said, "I think it's because those teams didn't have the combination of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes.''
The Chiefs had to dig deep to make this Super Bowl appearance. The Chiefs and Bills traded the lead four times, with Kansas City not taking the lead for good until Harrison Butker kicked a 35-yard field goal with 3:33 remaining to break a tie and give the Chiefs the winning points.
The Chiefs then had to hold off the Bills by forcing Josh Allen to throw an incomplete pass on fourth down near midfield with two minutes remaining.
"I'm always nervous whenever the football's not in my hand, but I have so much trust in that defense,'' Mahomes said. "They've done it all year, and I know that's a great offense that they're going up against and Josh has made a lot of great plays all night, all season long, but I trust that [defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo] is going to call the right blitz or call the right coverage and the guys are going to execute the assignment and then whatever happens, happens. I was very happy that it was incomplete and we were able to run the time out after that.''
The Chiefs went 15-2 in the regular season and were the AFC's No. 1 playoff seed, but it was similarly a tough go. Eleven of their 15 wins were by one score.
Counting the narrow margin of the AFC Championship Game and dating back to the 2023 season, the Chiefs have won an NFL-record 17 straight games decided by one score.
Defensive tackle Chris Jones said that's why the Chiefs felt so comfortable in the fourth quarter of a tight game against the Bills.
All year we work through situations throughout the year, practice late-game situations, two-minute situations,'' Jones said. "So for us, it's just another play. We're very confident and ... we're used to being in these types of situations, so we feel very calm, we feel very at peace with what we're running, the speed of it, the pace of it and the play quality.''
The win was the 17th of Mahomes' playoff career, breaking a tie with Joe Montana and putting him in second place among quarterbacks. The leader, Tom Brady, has 35.
"It's obviously really cool,'' Mahomes said. "Your goal is to win in the postseason, but I've been blessed to be on a lot of great football teams with a lot of great coaches and a great organization and I just try to maximize every moment. You never know what's going to be your last one.
"I know I'm a long way from Tom, so I'll try to do whatever I can for that.''
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs had been understated in their push for history, acknowledging their chance to become the first NFL team to win three consecutive titles in the Super Bowl era but saying little else.
That all changed in the moments following the Chiefs' 32-29 win over the Buffalo Bills in Sunday's AFC Championship Game, a win that sends them to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans against the Philadelphia Eagles.
From the hastily constructed stage on the Arrowhead Stadium playing field, with confetti falling, Patrick Mahomes spoke for not only himself but his teammates when he said, "I'm excited to get to New Orleans and try to make history.''
The Chiefs are the ninth NFL team to win back-to-back Super Bowl championships but the first to return for a third consecutive season.
"It's an amazing achievement,'' Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said. "It's hard to even put into words what it means to have the opportunity that we will here in two weeks in New Orleans. So special.''
Asked why the first eight teams to try for a three-peat failed, Hunt said, "I think it's because those teams didn't have the combination of Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes.''
The Chiefs had to dig deep to make this Super Bowl appearance. The Chiefs and Bills traded the lead four times, with Kansas City not taking the lead for good until Harrison Butker kicked a 35-yard field goal with 3:33 remaining to break a tie and give the Chiefs the winning points.
The Chiefs then had to hold off the Bills by forcing Josh Allen to throw an incomplete pass on fourth down near midfield with two minutes remaining.
"I'm always nervous whenever the football's not in my hand, but I have so much trust in that defense,'' Mahomes said. "They've done it all year, and I know that's a great offense that they're going up against and Josh has made a lot of great plays all night, all season long, but I trust that [defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo] is going to call the right blitz or call the right coverage and the guys are going to execute the assignment and then whatever happens, happens. I was very happy that it was incomplete and we were able to run the time out after that.''
The Chiefs went 15-2 in the regular season and were the AFC's No. 1 playoff seed, but it was similarly a tough go. Eleven of their 15 wins were by one score.
Counting the narrow margin of the AFC Championship Game and dating back to the 2023 season, the Chiefs have won an NFL-record 17 straight games decided by one score.
Defensive tackle Chris Jones said that's why the Chiefs felt so comfortable in the fourth quarter of a tight game against the Bills.
All year we work through situations throughout the year, practice late-game situations, two-minute situations,'' Jones said. "So for us, it's just another play. We're very confident and ... we're used to being in these types of situations, so we feel very calm, we feel very at peace with what we're running, the speed of it, the pace of it and the play quality.''
The win was the 17th of Mahomes' playoff career, breaking a tie with Joe Montana and putting him in second place among quarterbacks. The leader, Tom Brady, has 35.
"It's obviously really cool,'' Mahomes said. "Your goal is to win in the postseason, but I've been blessed to be on a lot of great football teams with a lot of great coaches and a great organization and I just try to maximize every moment. You never know what's going to be your last one.
"I know I'm a long way from Tom, so I'll try to do whatever I can for that.''
2025 Super Bowl referee will be familiar face to Eagles, though Chiefs haven't seen him in two years.
Ron Torbert was the referee on the field for the Eagles' first game of the season and he'll also be the ref for their final game of the season.
The NFL has tabbed Torbert to serve as the referee in Super Bowl LIX, marking the second time that he's gotten to officiate a Super Bowl. Torbert's first refereeing gig in the big game came back in February 2022 when he was the ref during the Rams' 23-20 win over the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.
Torbert has already worked one postseason game this year, and that came in the divisional round when he served as the referee for the Washington Commanders' 45-31 win over the Detroit Lions.
The 61-year-old Torbert started in the NFL as a side judge in 2010 before being promoted to referee in 2014. This will mark the 14th postseason game of Torbert's career.
Besides Super Bowl LVI, his biggest game came in the 2022 AFC Championship (Chiefs 23-20 over Bengals), which also marks the last time he officiated a Chiefs game.
If you're wondering how the Eagles and Chiefs have fared with Torbert, here's a look at their record with him over the past five years (stats via Pro Football Reference).
- Eagles: 5-3 (2-0 in 2024)
- Chiefs: 2-1 (0-0 in 2024)
- This is the third time this season that Torbert has seen the Eagles. The veteran official was the referee back in Week 1 for the Eagles' 34-29 win over the Packers in Brazil. He was also the referee for their 20-13 win over the Giantsin Week 18.
- On the other hand, it's been two years since Torbert last officiated a Chiefs game and that came in the aforementioned AFC Championship against the Bengals. During Patrick Mahomes' seven seasons as a starter, Torbert has only officiated four of his games with Kansas City going 3-1. According to the NFL, the rest of Torbert's crew for the game will be umpire Mike Morton, down judge Max Causey, line judge Mark Stewart, side judge Boris Cheek, field judge Mearl Robinson, back judge Jonah Monroe and replay official Kevin Brown.This will be the fourth Super Bowl for Cheek, who is one of just two people on the crew -- along with Torbert -- to have previously served as an official in a Super Bowl. Morton also has some Super Bowl experience, but that came as a player: He won a ring with the St. Louis Rams after their 23-16 win over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV.
- Super Bowl LIX will be kicking off from New Orleans on Feb. 9 in a game that will be televised on Fox.
Chiefs, Eagles unveil 2025 Super Bowl uniforms: What history says about their selections for NFL's big game.
The Kansas City Chiefs are eyeing a historic "three-peat" in Super Bowl LIX, and now we know how they'll look when they try to achieve it. The reigning champions announced Tuesday they will use their white away jerseys -- complete with new Super Bowl LIX patches -- against the Philadelphia Eagles on Feb. 9.
The Eagles are actually responsible for this choice, as they were this year's designated "home" team for the Super Bowl; that honor rotates between the AFC and NFC each season, and the home team gets first choice on uniforms. Accordingly, the Eagles will don their signature midnight green jerseys, guaranteeing a true rematch of the uniform matchup featured in Super Bowl LVII, when these teams last fought for a title.
What does this mean for the actual game? Well, uniforms aren't likely to determine on-field results, but if you're of a superstitious ilk, the teams wearing white away jerseys are a whopping 16-4 in the last 20 Super Bowls. Funny enough, the only two clubs to hoist the Lombardi Trophy while wearing home colors over the last decade are ... the Chiefs and Eagles. Kansas City beat the San Francisco 49ers wearing red just last season, while Philadelphia beat the New England Patriots wearing green in 2017.
During the Andy Reid-Patrick Mahomes era, the Chiefs are 2-1 wearing red jerseys and 1-0 wearing white. The Eagles, who wore green during their 2022 Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs, are 1-2 wearing their home colors in the big game since Jeffrey Lurie took ownership of the team in 1994; Philadelphia also wore green during its 2004 loss to the Patriots, when Reid was still early in his tenure as the Eagles' coach.
In total, teams wearing white jerseys have won 37 of the 58 Super Bowls, or almost 64%, while teams wearing non-white jerseys have won 21, or about 36%. Will the Eagles be the next to buck the trend, following in the footsteps of last year's Chiefs, and their own title team from 2017? We'll find out soon.
Small but mighty: New Budweiser Super Bowl commercial is out, and a Clydesdale foal steals the spotlight.
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History in New Orleans.
Both of these teams have history playing the Super Bowl in New Orleans.The Chiefs played in Super Bowl IV in 1970 at Tulane Stadium, beating the Vikings 23-7 in what was the final AFL-NFL World Championship Game prior to the merger of the two leagues the following season.
Eleven years later, the Eagles came to the Superdome to face the Raiders in the big game, but failed to win the franchise's first Super Bowl as they lost 27-10.
The Big Easy
If it feels like New Orleans is a common site for the Super Bowl, that's because it is. The big game hasn't been held there since 2013, but this go-round will be the city's 11th time hosting the Super Bowl, moving it into a tie with Miami for the most all-time.The specific host venue, the Caesars Superdome, goes further. This will be the eighth time it has held the Super Bowl. It already holds the record for the most times doing so, with Miami's Hard Rock Stadium in second with six.
Another Andy Reid Bowl
Andy Reid holds a unique place at the heart of the Super Bowl matchup, as he stands as the all-time coaching wins leader for both the Chiefs and the Eagles.Sunday's win in the AFC Championship Game marked the 28th career playoff victory of Reid's career – 18 with Kansas City and 10 with Philadelphia.
On the list of the NFL's all-time coaching leaders in playoff wins, Reid trails only Bill Belichick's 31 victories for first place. He could pass Belichick as soon as next year with a four-peat, but I'm getting ahead of things!
Chiefs have already made history
Stop me in you've heard this before, but the Chiefs are one win away from becoming the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls.In fact, just by reaching Super Bowl LIX, they've already made history. Nine teams have won back-to-back Super Bowls, but Kansas City is the only member of that group to return to the title game for a third straight year.
Overall, the Chiefs are just the fourth team to play in three consecutive Super Bowls, joining the 1971-73 Miami Dolphins, the 1990-93 Buffalo Bills and the 2016-18 New England Patriots. The Dolphins lost the first one and won the next two, the Bills of course infamously lost four straight, and the Patriots won the first and the third, losing to the Eagles in between.
What happened at Super Bowl LVII
Lets go through a quick refresher of what happened when these teams met in the Super Bowl two years ago.The Eagles led 24-14 at halftime but the Chiefs scored on all four of their second-half possessions (three TDs, one FG), including the game-winning 27-yard field goal by Harrison Butker with 0:08 remaining, to prevail 38-35.
Playing with an injured ankle, Patrick Mahomes threw for 182 yards and three touchdowns and added another 44 yards on the ground to win MVP honors.
One of the talking points after the game was a controversial defensive holding call on Philadelphia cornerback James Bradberry that allowed Kansas City to run the clock nearly all the way down, but Bradberry admitted the penalty was deserved after the game.
Travis Kelce could drop another $3M on luxe Super Bowl 2025 suite for Taylor Swift and loved ones.
Going to the Super Bowl doesn’t come cheap.Travis Kelce may have to shell out millions of dollars for his friends and family — including girlfriend Taylor Swift — to sit in a suite at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans for the upcoming game.
Only a limited number of luxury boxes remain after the Kansas City Chiefs secured their spot in the Feb. 9 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The VIP suites, which fit 25 to 40 people depending on size, are selling for up to $3 million, TMZ reported Monday — the same amount Kelce is believed to have paid last year.
You gotta believe the NFL is compensating them in some kind of way, at least, that's my opinion. Whether that's on the books or off the books.
Promo and office talk plus DJT will request both parties receive Audits by the new and Improved accountable IRS
Some commercials for Super Bowl LIX sold for $8M, per reports.
At least 10 commercials to air during Super Bowl LIX on Fox have sold for $8 million, according to multiple reports Wednesday.Fox reported in November that it had sold out of ad spots, at what it said it believed to be "record pricing," Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said at the time. As spots were dwindling, the price increased, according to reports. Super Bowl ads normally increase by about $100,000 each year, but this year, the increase was reportedly closer to $500,000.
What was unique to this Super Bowl, or this marketplace, was we had a lot more people that weren't in the game at all, all of a sudden be like, no, no, I have to get in the game," Fox Sports EVP/ad sales Mark Evans said.
Around 123.7 million people watched the Super Bowl last year, according to Nielsen, and more than 115 million viewers watched in 2023, the last time the Super Bowl aired on Fox.
Anheuser-Busch, Meta, PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, Taco Bell, Uber Eats and others will vie to win over the more than 120 million viewers expected to tune in for the broadcast on Fox and via the free livestream on Tubi.
"If I learned anything, it's that we're in a period now where the live sporting event, where people and families come together to watch, is that much more coveted," Evans said. "There's an escalation in price and interest in the demand for live sports, but we're not at its peak. We've still got runway for growth."
Fox declined to comment on the specific price tag for 30 seconds. Last year, a 30-second spot went for around a reported $7 million.
Evans said the mix of ad categories for the most part includes the usual suspects: beverages, snacks, tech companies and telcos. There will be a focus on AI in more commercials, he said, and slightly more pharmaceutical companies advertising this year.
One category that's down is movie promos and streamers. Another traditionally big category for the Super Bowl, automakers, are mainly sitting it out after a tough year in the sector, with only Stellantis' Jeep and Ram brands having announced an appearance.
The California wildfires in January made the lead-up to the game less predictable than usual. State Farm pulled out of its planned advertising to focus on the fires. And some other advertisers faced production delays. But Evans said accommodations were made wherever possible.
Super Bowl LIX will be played at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Feb. 9, when the Philadelphia Eagles will face the Kansas City Chiefs.
United States
Television
Super Bowl LIX is scheduled to be televised in English by Fox with Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady, Erin Andrews, Tom Rinaldi, and Mike Pereira on the call.[28] It will be the second Super Bowl to be broadcast under the 11-year NFL television contract as part of the four-year rotation between CBS, Fox, NBC, and ABC/ESPN.[29][30] On October 14, 2024, it was announced that both Fox Deportes and Telemundo would air separate Spanish-language feeds of the game for the first time.[31]Fox has reported strong demand for advertising spots. The company announced it has sold all available commercial slots as of November 5, 2024. 30-second ad spots have reportedly sold for over $7 million, modestly higher than the $6.5 million average price for Super Bowl LVI. In 2022, the final ad slot was not sold until the Monday before the game, indicating a notable increase in demand for this year's event.[32]
The season 3 premiere of Fox's game show The Floor will air following the game.[33] As a cross-promotion for the game, Fox series Kitchen Nightmares began airing special Road to Super Bowl LIX episodes in January 2025 as the first half of its ninth season, which focus on restaurants in New Orleans and feature guest appearances by NFL players and personalities.[34] Fox is also scheduling broadcast television airings of Fox Sports 1's studio lineup on the Friday prior to the game, including First Things First and The Herd with Colin Cowherd.[28]
Streaming
On January 15, 2025, Fox announced that Super Bowl LIX will stream on Tubi, Fox Corporation's free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) platform, for the first time; this returns the game to free Internet television without a paywall or TV Everywhere requirement for the first time since Super Bowl LV (Super Bowl LVI had been available free on small screen devices[35]). Tubi will also stream a digital-exclusive pre-game show hosted by Olivia Culpo—Tubi Red Carpet at Super Bowl LIX—which will focus on pop culture topics relating to the game.[28]Radio
Westwood One holds the national radio rights to the game,[36] with Kevin Harlan, Kurt Warner, Laura Okmin, and Gene Steratore on the call.
Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan reunite at Katz Deli for a Hellman's Super Bowl commercial.
Super Bowl 2025: Ron Torbert is the referee, which penalties has his crew called most often?
Ron Torbert isn't a common name to NFL fans, but they'll likely spend all Super Bowl Sunday discussing him and his crew.Torbert is the referee for Super Bowl LIX between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. That's not an easy job, considering that no matter how Torbert and his crew calls the game, there will be more officiating controversies. It seems inevitable.
It's not like this is the first Super Bowl in which officiating is a key storyline heading into it. It has become a pastime of fans to complain about penalties. But with so much of the NFL discourse focusing on the Chiefs and fans' perception that officials favor them, every call will be dissected.
It's worth looking at how Torbert's crew called games this season, even though Super Bowls are officiated by all-star crews. Usually an officiating crew stays together through the season, but Super Bowl assignments are awarded based on the highest grades at each position.
Ron Torbert's stats for this season
First, Torbert's crew did not work a Chiefs game all season, though he has history working a significant game in Kansas City that included a controversial call. More on that in a bit.We might see a few more flags than normal. According to NFLPenalties.com, Torbert's crew tied for third-most accepted penalties called in the NFL this season at 235, which was the third-most yards at 1,958. Last season Torbert's crew was second in the NFL in penalties called.
Torbert's crew called more penalties on the home team, 121-114, though that shouldn't matter because the Super Bowl is a neutral-site game.
The top three calls made by Torbert's crew this season were offensive holding (49), false start (41) and defensive pass interference (20), which were the three most common fouls league-wide according to NFLPenalties.com.
One penalty that everyone will be watching is roughing the passer, and Torbert's crew is a little high compared to the average on that one. Torbert's crew called eight roughing the passer penalties in 17 games, or 0.47 per game. The league average was 0.35 per game. Given the outcry over any call made on a hit on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, it will be a big story if any roughing the passer calls are made against the Eagles.
Keep an eye on delay of game too. Kansas City was called for the fewest delays in the NFL, the only penalty category in which the Chiefs had the fewest calls on them across the NFL or were the biggest beneficiaries of calls, which will surprise Kansas City's critics. But Torbert's crew called 0.76 delay of game penalties per game, well above the average of 0.61.
Torbert's other Super Bowl had memorable penalty
Torbert's name might be familiar to Chiefs fans.In the AFC championship game two years ago, Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai was called for pushing Mahomes after he'd stepped out of bounds in the final seconds of a close game, setting up the game-winning field goal to send the Chiefs to the Super Bowl. Although that call seemed to be the right one, considering Mahomes was out of bounds when he got shoved from behind, it was a big turning point in the game and became a controversy.
Torbert has been the referee for one other Super Bowl, and that had a controversial call too. With the Cincinnati Bengals leading the Los Angeles Rams late in Super Bowl LVI, Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson was called for holding Cooper Kupp on a third-and-goal incompletion. The Rams got a first down and won the game on Kupp's touchdown shortly after.
"Cooper came up to me and tried to push off me and I thought I made a good play on the ball," Wilson said after the game. "The refs saw otherwise. Just a tough call."
Torbert should hope that this Super Bowl doesn't come down to a call, one way or another. The entire sporting world will be watching for it.
