4 lessons SF 49ers learn from Buccaneers win in Super Bowl 55
By Peter Panacy
The SF 49ers hopefully paid attention to these four key lessons the Buccaneers displayed during their Super Bowl 55 win over the Chiefs.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers just delivered some vindication for SF 49ers fans everywhere by dominating quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 55 by winning with a lopsided 31-9 victory at Raymond James Stadium.
Instead of Niners fans having to tell Bucs fans just how good Mahomes and the Chiefs offense can be on the brightest of stages, the narrative will instead be how Tampa Bay completely shut down Mahomes.
All the while letting Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady do his Super Bowl-like magic, tossing three touchdowns and finishing with a 125.8 passer rating en route to his seventh championship ring.
Whatever San Francisco’s fanbase felt about Brady previously, him beating the Chiefs has to feel good.
But the SF 49ers also need to apply some key takeaways from the Super Bowl to their own plans in order to get back towards a sixth franchise Lombardi Trophy.
SF 49ers Lesson No. 4: Don’t be in position to let officials decide the game
There are probably going to be a lot of Chiefs fans complaining about the officiating during Super Bowl 55.
Not unlike how a lot of Niners fans complained about it a year ago, particularly that non-call when EDGE Nick Bosa was being held when Mahomes threw that deep 3rd-and-15 play for a turning-point completion.
Both San Francisco and Kansas City can learn a key lesson from the game, and that’s not to be in a position to allow the officiating to dictate the outcome. Sure, there were a lot of calls against the Chiefs — 11 in total for a whopping 128 yards — during the game. And more than a few of those calls were of the boneheaded variety.
But the point is Kansas City didn’t overcome them. It didn’t put them in the rearview mirror, rather letting the flags be a big part of the storyline instead of the big plays from Mahomes, wide receiver Tyreek Hill or tight end Travis Kelce.
Simply put, win despite the officials. Don’t lose because of them.