Super Bowl 2024: San Francisco 49ers v Kansas City Chiefs – live updates | Super Bowl

Timely email from William Preston:

Hey Hunter!

I’m not at all convinced by the KC offence, here (or is it offense?). The 49ers looked like they were getting a proper stomp on over them. To prevail, they’re going to need some thrilling heroics out of the QB, and avoid those short passes.

Why is Paul Rudd?

Have a great one!

That’s two straight drives to nowhere from Kansas City, although credit must be given to the 49ers’ defense here as well. McCaffrey and Samuel are very much nothing to sneeze at.

49ers 0-0 Chiefs, 3:53, 1st quarter

Pacheco picks up 10 yards here. On the next play, Chase Young chases down Mahomes for a four-yard loss. 2nd and 14 at their own 17. Mahomes finds Rashee Rice, who is taken down by Fred Warner for no gain. On 3rd and 14, Mahomes has to scramble and only picks up four yards. What a sequence by the 49ers defense!

Townsend’s next punt pins the 49ers at their 17.

Email from Justin Kavanagh:

Watching all the build-up, the fireworks, and the razzmatazz in Vegas tonight, I can’t help but picture a sullen-faced Roy Keane at home on his couch watching on and silently…FUMING. For American handball football exclusivists, Keane is the soccer player that Roy Kent is based on in the Ted Lasso series, a man who believes trophies should be presented to the winning captain in the dressing room. In private. Well after the game. How Roy must hate the Super Bowl!

It’s basically a hugely commercial enterprise, with a football game tacked on. I mean, a literal commercial enterprise: it’s the world biggest day in the advertisement world.

49ers 0-0 Chiefs, 6:39, 1st quarter

Mitch Wishnowsky is on to punt. There’s another false start penalty that pushes them back five yards. Not great for San Francisco. Richie James catches the deep punt and takes it five yards to the Chiefs’ own 11.

49ers 0-0 Chiefs, 6:42, 1st quarter

2nd and 17. Purdy passes to George Kittle for a first down gain! Except there’s a holding penalty, that’s back-to-back penalties on Williams who gets called by holding. That’s a 10-yard penalty. It’s now 2nd and 27. Purdy passes to McCaffrey, for an eight-yard gain. 3rd and 19. What a promising drive this could have been if not for Williams two penalties.

Purdy finds Samuel and that’s only 12 yards. 49ers will have to punt.

49ers 0-0 Chiefs, 8:59, 1st quarter

Purdy finds Brandon Aiyuk for an 18-yard gain. They’re at the San Francisco 49.

On the next play, Deebo Samuel gets taken for a two-yard loss. 2nd & 12. Then they get knocked by a false start penalty on Trent Williams. That’s a five-yard penalty.

Email from Joe Pearson:

Zardoz?

Wow! That is a deep cut.

Since this is my last day, I’m allowing myself a few references just for me.

49ers 0-0 Chiefs, 10:16, 1st quarter

McCaffrey has only fumbled twice all season. What a horrific time for a third! On the first carry, Isiah Pacheco gets taken for a three-yard loss. On 2nd & 13, Patrick Mahomes finds Travis Kelce but he can only pick up a single yard. 3rd & 12, Mahomes finds McKinnon for eight yards which is not enough here after that opening sack. Tommy Townsend punts, which is caught by Ray-Ray McCloud at the San Francisco 24. Good job by San Francisco’s defense to make sure that the opening fumble didn’t hurt them.

Fumble! 49ers 0-0 Chiefs, 12:15, 1st quarter

49ers 0-0 Chiefs, 14:24, 1st quarter

The 49ers start at their own 25. McCaffrey picks up six yards, On 2nd & 4, fullback Kyle Juszczyk picks up 18 yards to get to their own 49.

Opening kickoff

Coin toss

It’s time for every better’s favorite part of the game: the coin toss! It’s heads, the Chiefs win and they choose to defer. Always the right decision! The 49ers will have the ball first. We’re about to get started!

Reba McEntire sings the national anthem

Here we are. I usually like country artists performing the anthem, not because I’m a massive country fan but because they tend not to oversing too much. I’m a fan of subtlety and McEntire does a very nice job, only really letting her voice go long on “free” and “brave”. Of course, she hits “brave” twice which feels a bit showboat-y. Otherwise a very nice rendition. 7/10.

Literally, everybody is excited for the Super Bowl.

Oh no, is this Post Malone doing America the Beautiful? Can we fast-forward to Reba McEntire doing the national anthem?

Email from Shaun Coward:

Hi Hunter,

Longtime 49ers fan here, coming up on 40 years so not my first time watching the 49ers in the big one. What feels weird this time is just how many media commentators are picking a close game but are also certain of a Chiefs win, because Mahomes. This is the ultimate team game and it’s the best team that will win, not the best quarterback. Obviously you can never count out Mahomes’ influence and ability but I think the 49ers have the talent to make this an ugly night for the Chiefs, just like we did for the Cowboys and the Eagle during the regular season – but only if our defense turns up. It will come down to turnovers and giving the ball to CMC. I’m nervous but also optimistic! Bold prediction: 49ers win and DEEBO for MVP with three touchdowns!

Cheers,

Shaun

I’ll give this prediction: if Deebo scores three touchdowns, San Francisco will win and he will definitely be MVP.

The 49ers and the Chiefs have both taken to the field! We’re getting closer and closer to actual football here! Will the Chiefs win back-to-back titles or will the 49ers win their first Super Bowl since the 1994 NFL season?

More emails:

Alright, you’ve been sending me a lot of emails. I appreciate them all and I’ve done my best to try to get to most of them during the pregame here.

From Desmond Barry:

Hello Hunter,

I’m from Wales. I turned onto American Football in the 80s when I moved to San Francisco. Got my first writing break there 1988 National Poetry Week Life on the Water Theatre. Worked at UCSF hospital during the Earthquake so I saw Joe Montana live when games moved to Stanford. A year or so later I saw Steve Young live when I moved across to Massachusetts. Both games were against the Patriots that the 9ers won. I’m nervous about today but I’m trusting to unpredictable circumstances to bring the 9ers the win today. Visions of Deebo.

Cheers,

Des Barry

Email from Damian Durrant:

Hi Hunter, the Gunners 6.0 shellacking of West Ham clearly foreshadows a 49ers win, because I am Gooner expat 49ers fan who has lived in the Bay for 12 years. That’s about a rational a basis for a prediction as any, all the money ball stats and Vegas bookmaker odds be darned. Anything can happen on big bowl day.

Regards,
Damian Durrant

The Taylor Swift Backlash?

Email from Michael Thomas:

Please, for the love of god, can we have some sort of Taylor Swift-less version of the match thread? Like, one with all the updates AND the TS stuff, and one with just the ones about the match?

I have nothing against her, but this is getting absurd.

Are you suggesting Super Bowl Thread (Non-Taylor’s Version)? My answer to this is that the Super Bowl, even in a regular year, is only 50% about the football itself in a regular year. However, you are not alone in being a little Taylor’d out, according to Tom Lutz at Allegiant Stadium:

The in stadium commentary team just asked for cheers from the crowd. It was much louder for the Chiefs, although quite a lot of that noise appeared to be boos. The fightback against Taylor Swift’s psy-ops operation has begun!

On the field, Pittsburgh Steelers’ Cam Heyward has just won the Walter Payton Man of the Year award.

Here’s further pregame reading for everyone. Resident NFL expert Oliver Connolly recently came up with his predictions on what would determine the outcome of this Super Bowl. He also predicts a trick play:

Once derided as gimmicks, trick plays are now an essential part of postseason game-planning. Fun fact: Reid even dedicates one member of his staff to trawl through high school, international tape, and social media to find the whackiest most imaginative designs, including a film-sharing program with a space-age offense from Japan.

Given their concerns on offense, the Chiefs seem ripe to uncork something wonky on Sunday.

While the Super Bowl is the biggest sporting event of the year here in the States, it also does double-duty as the biggest television event of the year. That means plenty of non-sports fans around the world watch just for the commercials, the halftime show and the fact that it’s the last remnants of pre-internet monoculture.

As an example, take this email from Paul Griffin:

I don’t follow this closely, but I enjoy the razzmatazz, and the athleticism. My prediction: the Chiefs by a few. And I’m expecting they’ll score at least three home runs.

With that in mind, the Guardian has a second liveblog up concurrent to this one just keeping track of all the non-football things going on. We’ll remind you of this when it’s time for Usher’s halftime show. (Which is good because my knowledge of Usher doesn’t go much beyond “Yeah!”)

Tom Lutz on the scene:

Some good news for the Chiefs: Running back Jerick McKinnon and wide receiver Skyy Moore are active for KC for the first time since December – both played crucial roles in their team’s win over the Eagles in last year’s Super Bowl, even if they weren’t great before getting injured earlier this season. Another receiver who hasn’t distinguished himself this season for the Chiefs, Kadarius Toney, is inactive for today’s game. For the Niners, defensive linemen TY McGill and Alex Barrett, linebacker Jalen Graham, wide receiver Ronnie Bell, cornerback Samuel Womack III and offensive lineman Matt Pryor are all inactive.

More predictions!

Email from Tanya Cotter:

Chiefs and the 49ers go 49ers I believe it is an awesome comeback. I would love to see them win just because I am from Santa Cruz area.

Email from Rowan Sweeney:

San Francisco come in with the momentum of the (*chokes back, salty, blue, lion-shaped tears*) 27-0 run. Whereas the Chiefs kind of fell over an imploding Ravens team. But then Mahomes gonna Mahomes, and Kelce gonna Kelce? I don’t know … 49ers by a 2 point conversion.

Email from Richard Hirst:

Hi Hunter

Given many of my family live in St Louis, and there is no longer a team there, I ought to support Kansas City as the Missouri representatives, but I always liked the Joe Montana 49ers, so I’ll go with them. And of course I have a fallback position if the Chiefs are on top!

These emails are coming in fast and furious, which is great because it means less work trying to fill in these hours before the game itself starts. The pregame crew has reached the point where they’ve started to make their predictions! Several of them have mentioned Kansas City having the edge with kicker Harrison Butker. You know it’s a close matchup when experts have decided that the difference will be the placekicker.

Email from Charles Lee:

Super Bowl!!!

Cowboys aren’t in it, how can you call it Super Bowl?

When I was growing up, the Dallas Cowboys were pretty much always in the Super Bowl (with the Buffalo Bills often acting as their Washington Generals). These days, they tend to bow out much earlier in the NFL postseason. In my last regular column for the Guardian, I wrote about their woes in the 21st century.

Tom Lutz at Allegiant Stadium:

The players are out on the field for warmups. It’s remarkable enough to see how easily Mahomes and Purdy hurl it 40 yards right into the hands of a receiver when there’s no pressure on them. It’s even more remarkable to see someone else do it – and realise it’s one of the coaches.

Longtime email contributor Roger Kirkby:

Hi Hunter, I’ve followed and contributed to your live blogs and it has been a pleasure. Don’t have a good NFL clip to share with you, but this is my all time favourite baseball story. There’s plenty of time for you to share it, if that’s not sacrilege on Super Bowl Sunday.

Enjoy.

Since I won’t have another time to talk baseball here, I’ve taken the liberty of linking it to this. Thanks so much for providing me with emails over the years, Roger, especially during the times when I’ve been pretty much alone here (today is not going to be one of those days). I’ll miss your wealth of knowledge!

We’re a little over an hour away from kick-off, but the Guardian has produced a lot of pregame reading for all of you to take up your time from now and then.

Here, for instance, is Graham Searles’s profile on Chiefs defensive back L’Jarius Sneed, who could be a key for Kansas City slowing down this Niners offense.

My faithful editor Tom Lutz is in Las Vegas to provide on-the-field updates! Here’s his first.

Hello from Vegas where it’s a beautiful sunny day. I guess that’s the advantage of holding a Super Bowl in the desert (not that it matters when the stadium has a roof). Allegiant is about a quarter full with an hour or so to go to kick-off. It’s hard to tell which fans are in the majority when both teams play in red. But from closer observation in the days leading up to the game, I’d say the Chiefs have slightly more support on the ground (plenty of Steelers jerseys too, I guess they bought their tickets when Mason Rudolph got hot).

More predictions!

Email from Charlie Bird:

I am looking forward to which totally unexpected plays are going to be unveiled in the game tonight.

Both head coaches being who they are they will have things up their sleeves for just this occasion.

The likes of Kyle Juszczyk and Clyde Edwards-Helaire making big catches out of the backfield are always fun.

I would love an onside kick to start the second half, like the one the New Orleans Saints used to ambush the Indianapolis Colts

Email from Joe Pearson:

MVP might end up being CMC, but you can get 20-1 on Deebo. Just saying.

Do-it-all 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel is also a prime candidate for MVP although it’s time for a parting confession as I wrap up my time here: I have never once bet on a sporting event and if you’ve been keeping track of my predictions over the years, you’ll know that I have made the correct decision!

Email from Mark Moran:

Hi Hunter,

I’m going to go against your writers on this one and predict that the Niners squeak this one by a field goal. I think a stellar performance from Christian McCaffrey, the quality of the ever-underrated Brandon Aiyuk and the versatile Deebo Samuel, and a relatively efficient and error-free display from Brock Purdy should be enough; it’s difficult to bet against Mahomes and Reid, though.

I think the Chiefs’ over-reliance on Travis Kelce may come back to bite them. With Kadarius Toney out (arguably an advantage for Kansas), perhaps a display of quality from MVS could help to turn the tide and take some pressure off KC’s star tight end and rookie receiver Rashee Rice? KC has the advantage at OL and in the secondary, but I think the star quality of Trent Williams and Nick Bosa give SF the advantage outside of the skill positions. L’Jarius Sneed and Creed Humphrey may have something to say about that, however.

As a Panthers fan, I would love to see CMC and 49ers DC Steve Wilks, two guys who gave so much to our organisation, win a ring. Either way, let’s hope for a tight, high-scoring game. 24-21 San Francisco.

Enjoy the game!

Someone else agrees with my prediction! I’m always a fan of this!

And yes bad news for Toney, the inconsistent Chiefs receiver is not expected to play in the Super Bowl. Toney has had just a single touchdown on the season and has been prone to make mistakes all season long, including an offside penalty against the Buffalo Bills that took a touchdown off the board.

Super Bowl quiz

Looking for a way to pass the time before the Super Bowl starts? Why don’t you take your chances at filling out Bryan Armen Graham’s Super Bowl quiz!

I, uh, got a mere 12/20 despite covering Super Bowls being my literal job for nearly a decade. Perhaps it is very much time to move on!

Taylor Swift arrives at Allegiant Stadium

I feel as if I’ve been proven wrong for picking against Patrick Mahomes pretty much every single time I’ve done so, so this very well could be right.

I will say this: should San Francisco win, expect running back Christian McCaffrey to win MVP.

Predictions

It feels like everybody is picking the Chiefs! It feels weird to me because I genuinely believe San Francisco is clearly the better team and has a slight edge assuming that Brock Purdy doesn’t have one of the Bad Brock Purdy Games.

Now, that’s quite the possibility! I just think that the Chiefs have been relying too much on Mahomes and that if he just has a human game, the Niners can take advantage of that.

It will be a close game. I’m predicting the 49ers squeak by on a field goal, maybe 49ers 31-28 Chiefs? Feel free to offer your own prediction, either via email (to hunter.felt.freelance@theguardian.com) or X (@HunterFelt).

Hello I must be going

One thing I’ve learned in the last 12-plus years I’ve been covering sports is that it’s better to leave a year too early than a year too late. In that spirit, I must announce that today is my last day writing for the Guardian US.

It’s a decision I didn’t make lightly! This has been the most fun job a person could possibly have, particularly when writing these liveblogs. You have been an amazing audience. It, however, was time for me to find something new. I’m not sure what that will be yet, but I didn’t want to stick around for too long when it started just being a Thing I Did For Money. It’s time for fresh blood here, I know for a fact that whoever will be replacing me will be doing an amazing job. I will still be reading for certain!

I don’t want to make this all about me; these blogs are about the game. I just wanted to make that clear upfront. I’ll save my final goodbyes until the end. We have many, many hours together before then. I’ll cherish them all.

Preamble

It’s two and a half hours until kick-off and Allegiant Stadium is already filling up.

Hunter will be with you shortly, in the meantime here are our writers’ predictions for today’s game (49ers fans may want to stop reading here):

49ers 24-27 Chiefs. This is one of those heart-mind picks. The Niners are a better all-around team. The Chiefs have an exceptional defense, but few answers to the specific strain the Niners’ offense puts on opponents. But they also have the most talented player walking the Earth at the game’s most valuable position. This is a Mahomes pick. The Chiefs shouldn’t be here; they’re a flawed team, with the worst offensive group Mahomes has worked during his career. But he’s still Mahomes – and it’s tough to pick against the quarterback continuing his dynastic run. Oliver Connolly

49ers 24-30 Chiefs. Purdy plays well, but the Chiefs D gets the better of him in the end. Andrew Lawrence

49ers 14-31 Chiefs. It would be fun to see the Niners win, just because they haven’t claimed a title this century/millennium while the Chiefs are already a modern dynasty. But this won’t be close: the Niners were lucky to get past the Packers and would have lost to the Lions if it wasn’t for a few doses of fortune. In both games, the defense was unimpressive and the result turned on plays that could have gone either way. The Ravens wiped the floor with San Francisco over Christmas, and the Chiefs will do the same on Sunday. Tom Lutz

49ers 33-28 Chiefs. Heart or head? Well, ego trumps both. The 49ers were my preseason darlings and you just have to stick, don’t you. (I also have to try to claw back credibility for suggesting the Ravens would miss the playoffs.) Shanahan is going to cook up something truly special to get his first ring. Next year’s trilogy fight is going to be spicy. Graham Searles

You can read our full rundown of predictions for the game, from the MVP to how each team can win, here: