The game

LOS ALAMITOS, CA — On Feb. 12, Super Bowl 57 was played in State Farm Stadium in Arizona. The two teams consisted of the Philadelphia Eagles representing the National Football Conference (NFC) and the Kansas City Chiefs representing the American Football Conference (AFC). Both teams had an amazing season, dominating the competition and giving performances that will be remembered for some time. Going into the game, both teams were 14-3 with many eyes on the two quarterbacks: Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts.

The first quarter ended in a 7-7 tie with scores coming from Jalen Hurts QB for the Eagles and Travis Kelce TE for the Chiefs.

The second quarter ended 24-14 with the Eagles leading. A.J. Brown WR scored a touchdown early into the quarter setting the score as 14-7 Eagles. Shortly after, Jalen Hurts fumbled the ball and linebacker Nick Bolton scooped up the ball and ran it down the field for a 36-yard fumble return. This evened the score to 14-14. With a little over two minutes left in the half, Hurts ran it into the end zone for his third touchdown of the night, giving the Eagles a 21-14 lead. As the half was coming to a close, Eagles kicker Jake Elliot went for a 35-yard field goal and made it, ending the half with a 24-14 lead over the Chiefs. Up to that point, both Mahomes and Hurts had phenomenal performances.

At the end of the third quarter, there was a 27-21 score with rookie running back Isiah Pacheco scoring for the Chiefs and Elliot kicking a field goal for three points.

Early into the fourth quarter, wide receiver Kadarius Toney pulled the Chiefs into a lead, setting the score 28-27. To widen the gap even further, wide receiver Skyy Moore gave the Chiefs an eight-point lead with the score advancing to 35-27. Shortly after, Hurts got his fourth touchdown of the night, also making the two-point conversion. The score was 35-35, and tensions were starting to build.

With two minutes left in the game, the hottest topic of the night was about to happen. The Chiefs had the ball and were on their 3rd down. Mahomes attempted a pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster but fell short. Going into the fourth down, the Chiefs had to go for a field goal and essentially give the Eagles 90 seconds to attempt a drive down the field. However, a flag was called. The refs gave a holding penalty to cornerback James Bradberry, who was covering Smith-Schuster on the previous play. This gave the Chiefs a free first down that basically guaranteed a win for them.

The kicker is whether the holding call was truly holding or not. Bradberry was seen lightly tugging on Smyth Schuster’s jersey and not nearly on the caliber of a typical holding call. Although, yes, it was technically holding, it was such a light offense that it would have gone under the radar during the rest of the game. If the refs had such a low tolerance for holding, they should have made these calls throughout the whole game, not at the very end when the entire Super Bowl was on the line.

Regardless of bad calls, this Super Bowl is one to be remembered with phenomenal performances all around. Deservedly, Patrick Mahomes gets the MVP title.

Half-time show

Rihanna performed during the halftime show. Having not performed live since 2018 or released an album since 2016, it’s safe to say that this past Sunday’s halftime show was highly anticipated by fans. Celebrities, like Cara Delevingne, were seen wearing a shirt that said, “Rihanna concert interrupted by a football game, weird but whatever.” Liza Koshy was also seen wearing a Rihanna shirt underneath her jersey.

Sporting an all-red outfit, the nine-time Grammy-winning artist took to the air and opened her set with “B*tch Better Have My Money.” The high energy from Rihanna and her backup dancers, adorned in an all-white marshmallow-esque outfit, stayed throughout the performance.

The rest of Rihanna’s set consisted of her songs from varying albums such as “Where Have You Been,” “Rude Boy,” “Run This Town,” “Umbrella,” and concluded the show with “Diamonds.” The twelve-time Billboard winner took her performance on Sunday as a chance to show off her pregnancy with her second child which left fans shocked.

All in all, this year’s Super Bowl halftime show was unforgettable.