LAS VEGAS — Every Super Bowl is about glitz and glamor.
Yes, even the ones hosted in Minneapolis and Tampa, Florida.
But, let’s be honest: Some places do glitz and glamor better. And there is simply no place that does a big event quite like Las Vegas.
After all, this is a town where the question “Is this too much?” has never been answered in the affirmative.
And this Super Bowl has been keen to push those limits.
The first Super Bowl in the Mojave Desert has already been an event unlike anything this city — or the NFL — has seen.
Celebrities flooded into town, as did big money. I hear things got pretty crazy in those clubs and VIP areas they won’t let folks like me even look at.
And all that happened before Taylor Swift’s expected arrival.
Oh yes, the football game. That’s what we’re here for, right?
This week has become so big and brash that the Super Bowl itself feels forgotten.
But all signs point to it delivering like Adele’s residency at Caesar’s Palace.
Swift — the moment’s superstar of all superstars — is tied to this game through her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. In addition to being in every single commercial on TV these days (I counted four billboards of him hawking products on The Strip), Kelce moonlights as a future Hall of Fame tight end and the go-to pass catcher for Chiefs quarterback (and fellow commercial mainstay) Patrick Mahomes.
While Mahomes and Kelce have lifted the Chiefs to the Super Bowl four times in the last five years (and probably got great deals on auto insurance for everyone on the team), it was a bit of a surprise Kansas City is back at the center of the football universe this February — the Chiefs struggled through the regular season, nearly failing to win their division. They found their best game at the right time, though, winning one sub-zero home game and two road games to arrive in the desert.
And while Kansas City is, according to the sportsbooks here, a 1.5-point underdog for this game, the clear expectation is that they will win anyway: Forty-nine of the 64 ESPN football personalities polled have picked Kansas City to beat the Niners. My informal poll at the Super Bowl media center holds a similar ratio. The universal logic, which seemingly comes straight from the gut: “How can you bet against Mahomes?”
So, yes, the 49ers are technically the favorites, but they sure feel like the underdog this week.
And it suits them.
Led by quarterback Brock Purdy, whose altar boy looks belie his killer instinct on the field, the 49ers are anything but unexpected participants in this, the biggest of big games. The Niners entered this season as a favorite to win the NFC for the right to play in this game, and, despite a few bumps in the road, including a 24-7 halftime deficit in the conference title game, they made good on that promise.
San Francisco is the team with more firepower. Its best is better than the Chiefs’ best every day, including Super Bowl Sunday.
The question is if the 49ers’ best will be on stage in the big show. You know the Chiefs will hold up their end of the bargain — they’re veterans of this grand stage.
The key for the 49ers is stopping Mahomes. With apologies to Bay Area native Tom Brady, one day the Chiefs quarterback — now just 28 years old— will be considered the greatest quarterback of all time.
If you give the great No. 15 an inch, he’ll take a mile. And Mahomes finds space in places you’d never think to look — his greatness stems from his ingenuity.
And beating Mahomes and the Chiefs would be fulfilling for the 49ers on many levels, but the most relatable motivation on San Francisco’s side is revenge.
The Niners lost to the Chiefs the last time they made the Super Bowl, four years ago in South Florida. The game was in their hands, up 10 points more than halfway through the fourth quarter. Mahomes took over, Purdy’s predecessor — Jimmy Garoppolo — missed a key throw, and the silver and slick Lombardi Trophy slipped out of the 49ers’ hands.
Winning this time around will take a comprehensive effort over the full course of the game. The Niners might have escaped their two prior playoff games with late comebacks, but they learned the hard way all those years ago: You don’t dally with Mahomes and the Chiefs.
Both the Niners and the Chiefs know this game is about legacy. Folks won’t ultimately remember the parties and celebrity sightings from the week proceeding — they’ll remember who won the game.
For the 49ers’ superstars, from Christian McCaffrey to Fred Warner, a title-game victory would confirm their greatness. This team, so close for so many years, would finally get over the hump.
For the improbable and unflappable Purdy, it would finally, mercifully eliminate the stigma around being the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Mr. Irrelevant. The football world would be forced to view him in a different light — perhaps then his doubters finally get to enjoy his highly entertaining, swashbuckling game.
For Mahomes, Kelce, and the Chiefs, it’s another point of proof that they’re a modern-day dynasty — one of the greatest teams ever to grace a field.
It should be a great game. And that, paired with the spectacle of it all, will be a tough act to follow for New Orleans next winter.
It’ll probably still be tough to follow two years from now, when the Super Bowl returns to Levi’s Stadium.
The Niners, of course, are looking to bring this Super Bowl home. Their massive fan base has waited a long time for No. 6.
As 49ers general manager John Lynch — a Super Bowl champion as a player — said, winning it all is something “they can never take away.”
What happens in Vegas will not stay in Vegas.
After nearly three decades, it’s time to finally add another irreplaceable item to the trophy case.