The Buccaneers were the better team on Sunday, the only time it matters, and won convincingly.

QB TOM BRADY was fine, although not electric, and Tampa Bay’s defense dominated after Kansas City fell behind.  Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com with the tale of the game:

Tom Brady isn’t passing the torch yet.

Brady, the 43-year-old quarterback who went to Tampa Bay for the final chapter in a first-ballot Hall of Fame career, proved he’s still the most dominant quarterback in the league by throwing for 201 yards and three touchdowns and earning his fifth Super Bowl MVP award and seventh ring as the Buccaneers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 for their first Super Bowl win since 2003.

With the win, Brady has more Super Bowl titles (7) than any franchise in NFL history, topping the six each won by the Steelers and Patriots. Brady also made history with his fifth MVP award, becoming the only player with five. Joe Montana is second with three.

“This team is world champions forever, you can’t take it away from us,” Brady said after the game.

When asked if he would return next season, he added: “We’re coming back.”

Brady joked with Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill in July that he would go for his seventh ring after Hill promised a Chiefs dynasty with seven of their own. With the win, Brady is 3-2 against Patrick Mahomes. His first two wins came in games in which he built a double-digit lead by half and held off furious Chiefs comebacks.

This time, though, there would be no comeback.

There would be just Brady and the talented teammates he lured to Tampa Bay when he went south to prove he was more than a piece in a Bill Belichick dynasty. The win shows he’s the kind of transcendent player who doesn’t need one particular organization to build a dynasty. He can do it anytime, anywhere, in any uniform.

“When we got Tom, that makes you a contender,” wide receiver Mike Evans said. “He’s like LeBron (James). Whatever team you put him on, they’re going to be a contender. They’re going to be a tough team to beat.”

He did it Sunday with tight end Rob Gronkowski — a longtime Patriots teammate he convinced to come out of retirement with promises of sunshine and another Super Bowl ring — and Leonard Fournette, whom he convinced to sign in Tampa Bay after the former first-rounder was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

And he did it with Antonio Brown, the troubled wide receiver who wanted another shot in the NFL and was given refuge by a quarterback who wanted one more talent in an offense that had almost everything.

“It’s great to see big-time players making big-time plays,” Brady said. “Just love what they added to the team. Gronk is an unbelievable player, teammate, talent, work ethic and commitment. A.B., since he got here, he’s done everything the right way. So impressed by him, proud of him. It takes a lot of people for us to get to this point. We all have great support systems in place, and I think everybody should be celebrating them tonight.”

Gronkowski followed his friend to Florida and was rewarded with the first two touchdowns of the evening. His pair of scores, one on an option play 8 yards from the goal line and the other a 17-yard reception, pushed the Buccaneers so far ahead of the Chiefs that Kansas City’s field goal counters weren’t enough.

“It’s hands down one of the greatest accomplishments in sports history,” said Gronkowski of his and Brady’s journey to and with the Buccaneers. “I mean, I’m not going to say it’s the greatest, but it’s up there for sure.

“To come down here to Tampa, come to an organization that was ready to win, come down here with the players — they’re all fantastic players, great guys — just everyone overall, the story is unbelievable and it definitely ranks up there with one of my biggest accomplishments ever.”

In a game billed to be the changing of the guard between Brady, the original GOAT, and Mahomes, the future GOAT, the veteran quarterback was dangerous as he efficiently picked apart the Chiefs’ defense. He completed 10 of 13 passes for 90 yards with three touchdowns in the first half, two to Gronkowski and one to Brown with less than a minute to go until halftime.

In the third quarter, Brady completed just 4 of 6 attempts for 55 yards, but his 25-yard completion to Gronkowski set up a 27-yard Fournette touchdown a play later.

While Tampa Bay’s young and tenacious defense battered Mahomes, the Buccaneers’ offensive line kept Brady nearly unscathed in the pocket. Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark recorded the only sack of Brady, coming in the first quarter.

Linebacker Shaquil Barrett, who won a Super Bowl with Peyton Manning in Denver, compared Brady’s addition to the Buccaneers to Manning’s addition to the Broncos.

“The way the relationships in the locker room were, the way he prepared, the way he prepped everything, it’s pretty similar to Brady,” Barrett said. “It’s been amazing to have Brady come in and lead us to the Super Bowl champs. It’s nothing else to be said. Brady, there’s nothing he can’t do. New team, new scheme, first year, going to the Super Bowl and winning it all. He’s the GOAT for sure.”

Though younger superstar quarterbacks are on the cusp of taking over the league, Brady defied the trend during the regular season, and he didn’t stop until he captured his seventh Super Bowl ring in his new home stadium surrounded by fans who embraced the quarterback as their own.

Brady was the MVP in five of his seven Super Bowl victories.  Receivers who benefitted from his passes were the MVPs of the other two – Deion Branch in SB 39 and Julian Edelman in SB 53.

For those who care, Brady has now won Super Bowls in six stadiums/cities with Houston (Carolina, Atlanta) being the city where he won two.

Brady has won Super Bowls against six different franchises, with the Rams being the team he beat twice (although he has won against teams representing seven different cities).

We don’t usually quote Joel Glazer, but this is a good one from Judy Bautista:

While he was clutching the Lombardi Trophy, Bucs owner Joel Glazer quoted his father, the late owner Malcolm Glazer.

“My father had an expression: ‘If you wanted to know the road ahead, ask the person who’s been there,’ ” Glazer said. “We found that person.”

And Tom Brady’s not at the end of the road yet.

Some other notes and comments:

Michael Gehlken

@GehlkenNFL

A fitting end to 2020 season: Super Bowl goes to team that stayed at home.

Ed Werder

@WerderEdESPN

This Todd Bowles-coached #Buccaneers defense is on the verge of becoming the first team to defeat 3 Super Bowl MVP quarterbacks in same postseason (Brees, Rodgers, Mahomes)

Mina Kimes

@minakimes

final tally, via @ESPNStatsInfo: Mahomes was pressured on 29/56 dropbacks–the most of any QB in Super Bowl history.

Brady was pressured on 4/30–the lowest of his SB career.

Christopher Gasper

@cgasper

The Buccaneers have become the first team to score 30 or more points in four consecutive games in one postseason…just another mark for Brady.

@AdamSchefter

When Tom Brady became a free agent last March, a mere two teams aggressively pursued him: the Chargers and Buccaneers. Others made calls, but seemingly no real push.

How did Brady not draw the same level of interest across the league that Deshaun Watson has now?

– – –

Peter King, we’re sure complying with all protocols, cornered Arians in his office after the game:

“What else did you say to Brady?” I asked Arians, when he finally had a chance to take a deep breath in his office post-game.

“That [first] day we talked,” Arians said, “Tom said he knew we had the talent. I just told him, ‘You gotta get them to believe.’ He did. And it came to fruition.”

Arians would have loved to dissect the moment with Brady right there. But when ownership, Arians and Brady moved to the stage to accept the Lombardi, the coach stepped back.

“I wanted my wife to have some time with him,” Arians said. “She’d never met Tom.”

Whaaaaat?

“Just that kind of year,” Arians said. “You know, the virus. It’s been tough to build a close team in times like this. They couldn’t eat together. Gronk still doesn’t know everybody’s name. So when we got on stage, I just let my wife have the moment with Tom. That was precious to me.”

Arians mused: “My wife not meeting Tom till we’re on stage after winning the Super Bowl. That speaks volumes of this whole year.”

More King, first with TE ROB GRONKOWSKI:

Brady created a culture of selflessness on both sides of the ball. When star linebacker Devin White complained about not making the Pro Bowl in December, Brady pshawed. “D,” he said. “Come on. There’s a bigger bowl I‘m chasing.” Arians had it lucky. Most teams talk about stars lowering their egos for the common good, but listen to Arians: “Mike Evans is the most unselfish superstar I’ve ever met. He’s told us to use some of his money if we need to contracts to keep the team together! And Gronk—never once all season did he ever say a word about getting the ball more, even though he might get one pass, two passes in games. He just blocks his ass off, and when I’d say to him, ‘You okay?’ he’d say, ‘I’m good, coach. I’m good.’ “

Gronkowski has been eclipsed by KC’s great tight end, Travis Kelce. But on this night, till the game was out of hand, the night belonged to Gronk (two TDs) over Kelce (a big drop, zero TDs). “Playing with Tom,” Gronkowski told me after the game, “you just learn if you want to win championships, you can’t care about your numbers. If you’re good, numbers will come. If you’ve got great players, maybe they’ll get the numbers. Who cares? I’ve had no problems all year how I’ve been used. I love blocking. Blocking’s just as important as catching the ball at my position.”

Brady was obviously the conduit to Gronkowski. “Once Brady signed,” Rosenhaus said, “that was the impetus for everything to happen. I called coach [Bill] Belichick in New England and said it might make sense for Rob to reunite with Tom. They worked out a trade. Rob’s body felt good. Being in Florida was good. He’s the only quarterback Rob ever wanted to play with.”

You could see Sunday night that Gronkowski has the fresh legs he used to have in September in New England. He was quick sprinting across the formation on his first TD catch, and so fast when he caught the ball that no Chief touched him on his eight-yard run to the end zone. On the second, he broke free from coverage by precocious rookie L’Jarius Sneed and then jutted left quickly in the back of the end zone. Easy touchdown.

“People seem mind-blown about Tom at his age,” Gronkowski said. “I’m not. He has lost no zip on his passes from when I first came in the league. People think he eats crazy and they question his methods. Well, I’m doing some of his stuff and all I know is I feel great.”

Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com has his usual long take on how the Buccaneers won.  An edited version is below:

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took something abstract and made it real. The much-ballyhooed game plan for what it would take to beat the Kansas City Chiefs was easy to write down and understand, but putting it into practice seemed virtually impossible for much of the 2020 NFL season. Outside of a shootout victory from the Raiders and a Chargers win against Kansas City’s backups in Week 17, no team seemed capable of solving the Chiefs for 60 minutes. Teams would piece together good quarters or even get out to double-digit leads, but the Chiefs inevitably would figure things out and overwhelm their opposition.

In the Super Bowl on Sunday, that moment simply never came. The Bucs were the better team from start to finish. Todd Bowles’ defensive game plan worked on the first drive and never stopped working. Byron Leftwich’s offense was stuffed on fourth-and-goal but otherwise only stopped scoring once the game was out of hand. A Kansas City offense that seemingly toyed with opponents most of the season spent most of this game in a panic.

The Bucs didn’t discover a new blueprint for how to beat the Chiefs, but they executed the best possible game plan to near perfection. Let’s break down what happened and how Tampa Bay won its first Super Bowl in 19 years, going in order of how much each contributed to the victory:

The pass pressure … with only four rushers

Bowles has a well-earned reputation as one of the league’s most creative and aggressive blitzers. His defenses with the Cardinals, Jets and Buccaneers routinely have ranked among the league leaders in blitz rate. In the right moment, Bowles has no qualms about sending six or seven rushers after the opposing quarterback, daring them to find the right receiver before the pressure gets home.

On Sunday, Bowles basically took the big blitzes out of his playbook. He sent no more than five men at Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and most frequently didn’t blitz at all. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Bowles blitzed on just 9.6% of Mahomes’ dropbacks, which was the lowest rate recorded for any single game by a Bowles-led defense over the past five seasons.

The simple reality is that he didn’t have to blitz or send extra rushers to get pressure on Mahomes. The game’s biggest mismatch on paper was Tampa’s front four against a Chiefs offensive line decimated by injuries and opt-outs. Other teams have had advantages against the Chiefs in the past, but Kansas City has been able to use play designs and Mahomes’ ability to extend plays to either mitigate those concerns or tire out the pass rush as the game goes along.

Instead, the Bucs whipped the Chiefs up front on virtually every single significant passing down of the game. I’m not sure I’ve seen a more dominant performance along the line of scrimmage since the Broncos blew up the Panthers in Super Bowl 50.

– – –

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Mahomes was pressured on 51.8% of his dropbacks, the third-highest rate he has seen in any game as a pro. The only quarterback pressured more frequently in a playoff game over the past three years was Lamar Jackson against the Bills in the divisional round. A quarterback extending plays forever can create and invite pressures, but that really wasn’t the case here. The Chiefs could not block up Tampa Bay.

Mahomes was sacked only three times, which is a testament to how incredible he was in this game. He was able to repeatedly escape what would have been play-destroying pressures for other quarterbacks. What looked to be frantic, desperate passes often hit his receivers in the helmet or hands, and I might remember one of his incompletions from this game more than any other play. If someone tells you Mahomes choked or was the problem in this loss, they weren’t paying attention.

There are ways to try to slow down a dominant pass rush, but none of them really worked for the Chiefs. They had some limited success running the football, mostly on draws with Clyde Edwards-Helaire, but only handed him the ball nine times before the game got out of hand. Reid is the best screen guy in the business, but his team was so out of sync on offense that its screens looked sloppy, with linemen failing to get to the correct marks.

Two-deep coverages to limit big plays

Anyone who watched the tape of the first game in Week 12 knew that the Bucs couldn’t line up with a single-high safety for most of the game. In my preview, I wrote about how the Chiefs had used those single-high looks to produce a career game for Hill, who repeatedly ended up alone against Carlton Davis. Going with split-safety coverages as part of Cover 2, Cover 4 or Cover 6 would give the Bucs more protection against the deep ball at the expense of adding more would-be rushers to Bowles’ blitz packages.

Well, as you know, Bowles didn’t have to blitz, which left plenty of defenders to stack up in coverage. The Bucs generally played fire zones (three defenders at each level) when they rushed five, but they played almost entirely split-safety coverages because of how often they only rushed four. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the Bucs were in two-safety shells on 87% of plays, the highest rate for a Bowles defense over the past five seasons. He would spin his coverage, showing a single-high safety or a three-deep look before the snap before moving into a split-safety look at the snap, but again, he didn’t need to disguise things all that much given how successful the Bucs were up front.

– – –

Other teams have had the idea of playing two-deep against the Chiefs and avoiding the big play at all costs. The Texans and Bills did it during the regular season. The Chiefs crushed them by running the football, hitting Travis Kelce over the middle of the field, completing RPOs, getting Mahomes scrambling for first downs and then picking them apart when they came out of the safe looks. This time, Kansas City fell too far behind to run the ball. Mahomes scrambled some early but spent too much time running backward under pressure to move the chains. All that was really left were the completions to Kelce, who had 10 catches for 133 yards over the middle of the field.

Third downs and a stellar red zone defense

Mahomes had Kelce and the occasional pass in the flat for short completions, but to win a game with that as your offensive base, you need to win in key situations. Dinking and dunking is fine, but you have to win on third down to stay on the field and turn your red zone opportunities into touchdowns. The Chiefs were the third-best third-down team in the league during the regular season and, as I wrote about in the preview, have dominated opposing defenses in the red zone with Mahomes the past three postseasons.

Well, the Buccaneers dominated in both situations. Mahomes converted the first third down the Chiefs faced with an 11-yard scramble and then failed on eight consecutive third-down tries. The next time the Chiefs picked up a third-down conversion was with 5:43 to go in the fourth quarter, when the game was over. Unsurprisingly, pressure caused problems on third downs, as Mahomes was bothered on 61.5% of his third-down dropbacks.

If you’re not hitting any deep plays and you’re struggling to sustain drives, the only path to scoring is succeeding in the red zone. This was something I thought could end up deciding the game, as a Chiefs offense that had converted 80.6% of its red zone trips over the past three playoffs with Mahomes went up against a Bucs defense that held the Chiefs to zero touchdowns in three red zone trips before slowing down the record-setting Packers red zone attack two weeks ago.

The Bucs were utterly dominant in the red zone. They faced eight Mahomes dropbacks in the red zone and limited him to three completions for 8 yards while pressuring him six times

All of this added up to a catastrophic failure for what was widely seen as an unstoppable offense. The Chiefs became just the third offense in 55 years to not score a touchdown in the Super Bowl. They failed to score a touchdown for the first time with Mahomes as a starter. I don’t have his high school game logs, but he didn’t have any starts at Texas Tech without a touchdown, so this might have been the first game he has ever completed without getting into the end zone at least once.This was an old-school slap in the face for the league’s most modern offense. The Chiefs could not control the line of scrimmage and, for the first time, Mahomes wasn’t able to find a way to bail them out.

Gronk’s vintage performance

The Bucs could have won with one touchdown, but it took a goal-line stand and some halfhearted drives in the fourth to keep them from scoring 40. The guy who stood out as their best player on that side of the ball was hawking CBD and about to embark on a WWE career this time last year. Rob Gronkowski isn’t the every-drive threat he once was, but during his final season with the Patriots in 2018, we saw Tom Brady target him in key situations and on the biggest stage.

On Sunday, the guy who said he was a “blocking tight end” earlier this season was much more than a blocker. In addition to excellent blocking on the ground, he was a matchup problem for the Chiefs, who never really found a solution for the future Hall of Famer. Gronk had five catches for 42 yards and two touchdowns in the first half and added a sixth catch after the break.

– – –

It was clear throughout the game that the plan for the Bucs, just as it was for the 49ers a year ago, was to attack the Chiefs’ linebackers and safeties in coverage. Evans and Godwin combined for three catches and 40 yards. Antonio Brown had five catches, but they went for just 22 yards and a short touchdown. Gronkowski, Brate and Leonard Fournette combined to go 13-of-14 for 139 yards with Gronk’s two scores. Tyrann Mathieu was in coverage on Brown’s touchdown.

Brady dominated out of play-action

One of the ways in which the Bucs have improved their passing attack over the course of the postseason has been by upping their play-action rate. During the regular season, 18.5% of Brady’s pass attempts came with a play-fake attached. During the postseason, that mark rose to 28.9%. Brady threw as many as 13 play-action passes in a game twice this season, and they were both in playoff wins.

One was the win over Washington in wild-card weekend. The other came Sunday, when Brady was deadly off of play-action. He went 10-of-13 for 135 yards and all three of his touchdowns. He would have had a fourth touchdown off play-action in the second quarter, only for offensive lineman Joe Haeg to have the ball knocked out of his hands in the end zone by Anthony Hitchens.

Play-action was another way for the Bucs to manipulate the Chiefs’ linebackers in coverage.

The play-action slowed down the Kansas City rush and helped keep pressure off Brady. The Chiefs blitzed 36.7% of the time in the hopes of creating pressure, but it rarely got home. After being pressured 23.8% of the time in the first matchup between these two teams, Brady was bothered on only 13.3% of his dropbacks in the rematch. Aaron Stinnie, who was the clear target on the Tampa Bay line in what was his third career start, was anonymous in a good way on the biggest stage. Offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich’s game plan always seemed to be one step ahead of Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s.

Playoff Lenny + Ronny gave the Chiefs fits

The Bucs also moved the ball on the ground, with Fournette and Ronald Jones combining to carry the ball 28 times for 150 yards. It was a weird game in terms of the numbers. Jones was generally the more efficient back, picking up five first downs on 12 carries, but he was the worse back of the two by EPA by virtue of his two unsuccessful goal-line runs, which included a fumble on third down and a stuff on fourth-and-goal from the 1. Fournette ran for only three first downs across 16 carries, but he took a 27-yard run to the house in the third quarter.

That run was another example of how the Bucs used a pulling guard to mess with the Chiefs and their tendencies on film. Typically, their running game is static and built around duo and inside zone runs. They’re rarely pulling guards, but as Geoff Schwartz noted on Twitter, the Bucs pulled Ali Marpet to create a designed bounce lane for Fournette on his touchdown. With the Chiefs looking to stop duo, Fournette ran untouched into the end zone.

One other element the Bucs were able to exploit on that play is the use of Haeg as a sixth offensive lineman. They used Haeg as a sixth lineman on 20 of their 63 snaps. They weren’t successful with Haeg and Vea on the field near the goal line for three snaps, but of their 17 other snaps with Haeg on the field, 13 were successful in terms of moving the chains or keeping the Bucs ahead of schedule.

Haeg’s role was twofold. One, naturally, was to give them a more physical blocker in the running game alongside Gronkowski than Brate. The other was to force the Chiefs to match personnel. The Chiefs consider their best 11-man defense to be a nickel or even a dime package, with five or six defensive backs on the field. Bringing Gronkowski and Haeg onto the field at the same time left Spagnuolo in a bind. When he stayed in the sub-package, the Buccaneers enjoyed a physical mismatch on the interior as they ran duo and inside zone.

Spagnuolo went to his base defense most of the time with Haeg on the field, though, and that gave Brady more linebackers to target in the passing game. Going to the base defense with Haeg on the field helped get Brown assigned against Mathieu, a safety, for his 1-yard touchdown. It’s always nice when your sixth offensive lineman can make a more positive impact on the game than any of the other team’s top five.

The true special-teams advantage

The Chiefs came into this game with a perceived special-teams advantage, given that they were better in 2020 and have been better on special teams than the Buccaneers for most of the past decade. In a single game, though, variance can swamp everything, and the Bucs were much better on special teams in the Super Bowl.

The kickers did their jobs, with every field goal and extra point going through the uprights. The real difference came with Chiefs punter Tommy Townsend, who had a miserable day. He fired his first punt from midfield into the end zone for a touchback when Byron Pringle failed to down the football. His second punt was a 27-yard shank from his own 43-yard line, which eliminated Kansas City’s field position advantage.

NFC NORTH

GREEN BAY

The Packers are stunned when their choice for defensive coordinator chooses to stay at the U. of Wisconsin.  Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com:

The Packers will have plenty of changes in 2021. One of them will not entail adding Jim Leonhard to Matt LaFleur’s coaching staff.

Per multiple reports, Leonhard turned down a chance to become the next defensive coordinator in Green Bay. Instead, he’ll continue to serve as defensive coordinator at Wisconsin.

“It was me choosing UW,” Leonhard told Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal. “I want to stay at UW. I want to be at this level right now. Extremely flattered. Awesome opportunity. But it was not the right time for me to go back to the NFL.”

Leonard, 38, spent 10 seasons in the NFL as an undersized defensive back. He became defensive backs coach at Wisconsin in 2016, and he added the defensive coordinator title in 2017.

NFC EAST

PHILADELPHIA

Peter King:

The Eagles are on the verge of trading QB CARSON WENTZ, per Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen. After Wentz’s landing spot (Indianapolis and Chicago are the most likely trade partners), the biggest issue to me is compensation. I asked one smart football person in the league the other day what logical compensation would be. “I don’t know what ‘logical’ means anymore,” this person said. “What kind of logical was the Stafford-Goff trade?” Last week, of course, the Rams traded Jared Goff plus a 2021 third-round pick and first-round picks in 2022 and ’23 for Matthew Stafford, who turns 33 this offseason and has never won a division title nor a playoff game in 12 years with the Lions.

The problem with divining proper trade value, of course, is figuring out what Wentz is right now. He played poorly in 2020 in Philadelphia, did not respond well to coaching, had a mental divorce with coach Doug Pederson, and will need both his head and arm fixed with a new team. Let’s say Chicago and Indianapolis are the top candidates. We know the Colts are interested; former Wentz offensive coordinator Frank Reich is the head coach. The Bears have 2017 Wentz-golden-year QB coach John DeFilippo as their quarterback coach. Chicago has the 20th pick in the first round, Indianapolis the 21st. My guess, and that’s all it is, is that the Bears would be more interested in trading the 20th pick plus something for Wentz than the Colts would in trading the 21st pick plus something for him. Why? The Bears are the more desperate team in 2021; coach Matt Nagy and GM Ryan Pace know their jobs are on the line, while Reich and GM Chris Ballard are solid as rocks in Indianapolis. I think Chicago would pay more in present value than Indy.

Sidebar issue: Wentz would prefer to be reunited with Reich, I’m sure. Imagine if the Bears trade for him and don’t make the playoffs in 2021 and Chicago fires Nagy and Pace—and Wentz has to start over with a new coaching staff in Chicago in 2022? That’s got to be Wentz’s nightmare scenario. But, of course, his destination is not his choice.

3. The Eagles. A buyer-beware postscript to Wentz on the market: If the cap-strapped Eagles do trade Wentz, keep a few things in mind. According to Over The Cap, Philly is already $53.5 million over the projected 2021 salary cap. A trade of Wentz, Over The Cap founder Jason Fitzgerald says, means the Eagles would have a 2021 cap charge on Wentz of $33.82 million. If they keep Wentz, his cap number as an Eagle would be $34.67 million. Translation: The Eagles save $850,000 by abandoning Wentz, at 28. Further translation: The Eagles 20 months ago were so sold on Wentz as their QB of the future that they signed him to a four-year, $128-million contract. And now they’re throwing him overboard. Shouldn’t that scare the crap out of Chicago GM Ryan Pace and Indy GM Chris Ballard? It sure would scare me, that this centerpiece of the franchise fell off the cliff so precipitously that the team that knows him best thinks he’s very likely not salvageable.

NFC SOUTH

TAMPA BAY

Having missed the huge Super Bowl payday because of Covid, will Tampa Bay jump the line for its next Super Bowl after waiting 11 years this time (and only then because LA had to be pushed back a year).  Thoughts from Peter King:

There’s much hope here that the NFL won’t let 12 years lapse between games again; the last time the Super Bowl was here was Feb. 1, 2009. As Torres said: “We’re hopeful the NFL sees everything we’ve done, and how hard we worked to make this week great, and understands the [COVID] impact here, and gives us another game this decade.” The next three games are in Los Angeles, Arizona and New Orleans, which leaves the 2025 game as the next in line. With Los Angeles in the future rotation, Las Vegas hoping to be, and so many other cities lusting for the games, it’s going to be tough for Tampa to jump the line when the next four or five games are awarded, but the locals will push hard for it.

– – –

Who will the Buccaneers open up with in 2021 to receive their crown?  It won’t be a re-match with the Chiefs, but there are several interesting options as detailed by Ryan Talbot of NYUpstate.com:

After winning Super Bowl LV, Tampa Bay is expected to host the league’s kickoff game on Thursday night in Week 1. Since 2004, the Super Bowl champions have hosted the game every year minus 2019 when the Packers and Bears faced off to celebrate the league’s 100th season.

There are plenty of intriguing options for the Buccaneers in next year’s matchup, but the Buffalo Bills make plenty of sense for Tampa Bay’s opponent.

The Buccaneers’ home slate for 2021 include the Bills, Falcons, Panthers, Saints, Cowboys, Giants, Dolphins and Bears.

Buffalo, New Orleans and Chicago were all playoff teams in 2020 which put them in the mix.

The Saints make plenty of sense as they swept Tampa Bay in the regular season only to lose to the Buccaneers in the playoffs, but is it still a marquee matchup without Drew Brees at quarterback? Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay’s former QB, may be New Orleans’ starter which gives them another angle if they go that route. This game would have been a slam dunk with Brees, but it’s not a sure thing without him.

Chicago’s chances may come down to what they do at quarterback. The team is currently looking to upgrade at the position after missing on Mitch Trubisky.

The Dallas Cowboys are also an option due to their general popularity as being “America’s Team.” The return of Dak Prescott could also give this game another enticing angle.

As for Buffalo, the team has plenty of history with Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski. Throw in the fact that the Bills are coming off of a season in which they made it all the way to the AFC Championship game and there is something to this potential matchup as well.

NFC WEST

LOS ANGELES RAMS

It occurs to the DB that Sean McVay is from the Jon Gruden tree – and like Gruden his impulses may not be the best for long-term franchise building.  Peter King seems to have similar thoughts:

Sean McVay. Below, in Numbers Game, you’ll see how much the Rams have paid for two starting quarterbacks, Jared Goff and now Matthew Stafford, between the 2016 and 2023 draft. The combined cost—four first-round picks, two second-round picks, two third-round picks, and $22.2 million in dead money on Goff’s contract this year—is enormous. So enormous that you could argue adroitly that no head coach in the NFL enters the 2021 season with more pressure on him than McVay. Now, McVay was not the coach when Goff was drafted, but the McVay/Goff team led the Rams to the Super Bowl in the 2018 season, and McVay was in favor of the rich contract Goff got days before the 2019 season. That contract ended up biting the Rams, and McVay, as the coach lost faith in the QB this season, leading to the deal for Stafford. McVay is thrilled with the outcome and thinks Stafford has the deep arm he covets to give the Rams a complete offense. We’ll see. But the bar will be high for Stafford and for McVay. The franchise made a Super Bowl with Goff. With a better defense than in 2018, the franchise needs to win a Super Bowl to justify the Stafford deal.

SEATTLE

Jason LaCanfora of CBSSports.com tries to stir up talk that QB RUSSELL WILSON, the freshly-crowned Walter Payton Man of the Year, could be had for the right offer.

If I were an enterprising NFL head coach or general manager, especially one who worked in one of the more glamorous locales in this league, I would start peppering the Seahawks with trade suggestions about their quarterback.

In what was already shaping up to be one of the wildest quarterback offseasons in NFL history may get even more bonkers than most would have considered. Could you imagine Russell Wilson in anything but a Seattle uniform? It might not be as crazy a proposition as you think. And while it would take a herculean offer to pry Wilson away, and the Seahawks ultimately might just be willing to budge, I’d want to go ahead and hear no with my own ears.

Would four first-round picks get it done? Five? Think big, either way.

Because with so many teams already pursuing or mulling quarterback trades — Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff already changed places; Carson Wentz will be next to go, and Deshaun Watson, Aaron Rodgers, Sam Darnold, Jimmy Garoppolo could all be on the move at some point, too — now is the time to be utterly proactive. And, from what I am hearing, some enterprising executives are already sniffing around on Wilson and trying to move the meter.

One of them might just get it done. I wouldn’t want to be left out of the process. A quarterback of this caliber and a man of this character (Wilson just won the Walter Payton Man Of The Year Award) checks every box possible. He carries a franchise to the playoffs and is good for 10-plus wins a year. He has won with stunning regularity in Seattle, almost exclusively without much of an offensive line and with less than highly creative schemes.

We are talking about a first-ballot Hall of Famer with seven Pro Bowls, who is driven by being an all-time great. This is someone who looks at Tom Brady back in another Super Bowl and wonders, “Why not me?” He wants to play until he is 45 and break Lombardi Trophy records, too. That is simply how he is wired, and if the current climate seems anything less than that, well, that stings.

Here’s what I know about Wilson: He burns to win. Every year. He has been beat up too much behind suspect blocking. He has a decade at least of play ahead and wants to maximize his opportunity to win consistently. And, given his family situation and the fact that his wife is a global figure in her own right, well, I don’t see Russ and Ciara living on a farm outside Green Bay, Wis., if you catch my drift. But if the city had the right stuff and the staff and roster look the part, and the team looks like a winner, or is close enough, then I’d get on the phone with Seahawks general manager John Schneider and see what I could work out.

I can’t help but consider the possibilities of what Wilson could do with someone like Sean Payton, for instance. I could see the Saints being a prime destination for Wilson if this heated up, and I hear they most certainly would like to further explore his potential availability after some exploratory calls. That talent and that play caller in that dome, in that division, would be wild.

The Raiders should be all over this as well, and I hear there is certainly some interest on their part. Las Vegas is metropolitan enough, it is close to Wilson’s home in California, the stadium is exquisite and climate controlled, they have some top offensive talent in place, Jon Gruden has a Super Bowl ring as a head coach and a 10-year contract. I’d posit the Raiders would be a significant fit for Wilson more than you might imagine at first blush.

Miami came just short of the playoffs but has emerging talent and South Beach doesn’t hurt, either. Russ and Ciara on South Beach feels right. Would the Seahawks be into Tua? I don’t love this dual offensive coordinator concept they are trying in Miami, but I also don’t think it would be a tough sell to get Wilson to sign off on a trade there, and I hear the Dolphins’ interest has already been piqued.

The Jets aren’t exactly on the cusp of winning big, but New York is still Gotham, they have the kind of draft haul to get it done. Darnold might be attractive to Pete Carroll, with their USC ties and all. Wilson in The Big Apple could be epic. The Jets know they probably have enough to get it done.

The Bears haven’t been able to find a QB since Sid Luckman’s prime. This would be the biggest sure thing ever. Chicago’s defense, with a few upgrades to the offensive line in free agency, with Wilson at QB, could be a real problem for the rest of the NFC North. Think about how nuts that city would be if Wilson brought a Lombardi back to Chicago?

Ciara is from Texas. The Cowboys are, they tell me, America’s Team. The offensive line is a little long in the tooth. The defense needs help … But you could win some serious shootouts with Wilson. Pay Dak Prescott over $40M a year with a second franchise tag looming, or make a run at Wilson? If I were Jerry Jones, I would at least make a few calls before I married Prescott as a quarterback for good.

Washington and Pittsburgh would make some sense, too. Not sure they are glamorous enough, in the end. But they have huge defensive pieces already in place and coaches whom I believe Wilson would enjoy playing for. They made the playoffs with far lesser quarterbacks. It’s worth a call.

Heck, it’s worth a call for almost every team in the NFL. The player is too transcendent. Perhaps nothing will come from it. It would be difficult to pull off. But the Seahawks will only hear more of this chatter if they do not put a better line in front of Wilson; if they continue to default to running the ball and skew old-school in their offensive approach.

An already bonkers 2021 offseason is underway, even before a champion has been crowned. Teams are talking more about quarterback trades than, possibly, ever before. It makes sense that Wilson is among them.

This is the next, next level.

AFC WEST

KANSAS CITY

Terez Paylor of YahooSports.com with his postmortem on the performance of QB PATRICK MAHOMES and the Chiefs offense:

Early in the fourth quarter of the Kansas City Chiefs’ biggest game of the season, the football fluttered to the ground once again in front of Darrel Williams, and as soon as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers started celebrating, the camera panned to Patrick Mahomes, the look on his face telling the story.

There were still over 13 minutes left on the clock, but for all intents and purposes, Super Bowl LV was over. The Chiefs trailed by 22 points, their best chance at a sorely needed touchdown just foiled, and the NFL’s next generational superstar was caught staring at no one in particular, a look of disbelief mixed with anger, frustration and lord knows what else.

His stat line was brutal — just 26 of 49 for 270 yards and two interceptions. And the Bucs’ 31-9 victory was the worst loss of Mahomes’ career, an improbable result for the high-powered Chiefs who went 14-2 this season but saw their hopes of becoming the first team to go back-to-back since Tom Brady’s 2004 New England Patriots end on a disastrous note.

“They beat us pretty good — the worst, I think, I’ve been beaten in a long time,” Mahomes said afterward, almost incredulously.

It’s hard to blame Mahomes for chuckling there, too. In so many ways, a defeat of this magnitude — a defeat this thorough — seemed to be improbable.

Prior to this night, Mahomes hadn’t lost by double digits since 2016. He was a Texas Tech Red Raider then, and in 53 prior NFL games, it had never happened. In fact, his Chiefs had never scored less than 13 points with him as a starter, so it takes a lot to make a quarterback like Mahomes look like this.

“I just think we weren’t on the same page as an offense in general,” Mahomes said. “I wasn’t getting the ball out on time, the receivers were running routes not exactly to where I thought they were going to be at and the offensive line, they were good sometimes and sometimes let guys through. And when you’re playing a good defense like that, you’ve got to be on the same page as on offense. And we weren’t today and that’s why we played so bad.”

For as ugly as Mahomes’ final stat line was, it should also be noted he was far from the Chiefs’ biggest problem.

All credit first goes to the Bucs’ defense, which gave a Super Bowl performance reminiscent of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens or even the 1985 Chicago Bears under the guidance of defensive coordinator Todd Bowles. His game plan was on point, playing lots of deep two-man safety looks that took away the Chiefs’ big plays and limited speedy wide receiver Tyreek Hill, all while letting the Bucs’ overwhelming defensive line eat a completely overmatched front.

“They kind of took away our deep stuff, they took away the sidelines and they did a good job of rallying to the football and making tackles,” Mahomes said. “We weren’t executing early, I had a few miscues, we weren’t on the same page. But I mean, credit to them, man. They played a heck of a game defensively.”

Credit also goes to the Bucs’ offense, which Brady guided to 31 points using the old-school New England playbook of controlling the game with the run, play-action off that and a buffet of short-passes with a dash of well-timed shots.

As great as Brady was, everything around him worked in unison. Everything around Mahomes fell apart.

Let’s start with the drops. There were plenty of those, as no receiver stepped up to help Mahomes while he was scrambling for his life behind an offensive line missing three starters from last year’s Super Bowl.

Some of the blame for that must also go to the coaching staff, as the Chiefs used five-man protections a staggering 92.3 percent of the time according to Next Gen Stats, repeatedly allowing the Bucs’ great edge-rushing duo of Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul to regularly stress left tackle Mike Remmers (who started the season as a backup) and right tackle Andrew Wylie (a natural guard) with speed to the edge.

Meanwhile, defensive tackles Vita Vea and Ndamukong Suh pushed the pocket inside, making life tough for Mahomes from the start. According to ESPN, Mahomes was pressured on a staggering 29 of 56 dropbacks Sunday, the most of any QB in Super Bowl history. He also ran for 497 yards before his passes and sacks, the such yardage by any quarterback in any game this season.

By the end of the Super Bowl, Mahomes had absorbed three sacks and eight hits while eluding maybe a dozen more, on a turf toe injury that affected his mobility, no less.

“To the last snap, he was trying to win the football game,” Reid said.

AFC EAST

NEW YORK JETS

This from Peter King:

I think this is my best guess on the next move on the offseason QB chessboard: Sam Darnold to the loser of the Wentzstakes, Chicago or Indy.

THIS AND THAT

CHRIS WESSLING

A sad loss in the NFL community.  NFL.com:

Longtime NFL.com writer and member of the Around The NFL Podcast Chris Wesseling passed away Friday at the age of 46 following a battle with cancer.

Wesseling is survived by his wife, Lakisha, and their son Lincoln. Lakisha, who is a Digital Content Editor at NFL.com, announced his passing Saturday on social media:

“2/5/2021: Linc gained the best guardian angel. Chris passed away peacefully yesterday afternoon. I was by his side, holding his hand. Knowing that he’s no longer suffering brings me some comfort, but my heart hurts so much. I took him to the hospital on the 19th thinking he’d be admitted for a few days like before… not knowing that would be the last time he’d be home. His cancer had spread to his lungs and other areas. I just don’t understand. I’m stuck in a place between denial and anger. Why take such a kind, loving soul? Why? Chris made an everlasting impression on anyone he met, even in his final days. One nurse gave me a letter to give to Linc the day after I took him in to see Chris. I read it last night and it’s one of the most beautiful letters written by a random person that wanted Linc to know what kind of man his father was coming from a complete stranger. I know Chris is in heaven looking down on us. I’m going to do my best to raise Linc how I know he would want. I see Chris every time I look at Linc’s face. I am so grateful I get to keep a part of him with me.”

Chris Wesseling joined NFL Media in 2013 after previously working as a writer for NBCSports.com and as a senior NFL editor at Rotoworld.com.

Wesseling quickly established himself as one of the most unique voices at NFL Media, blending his football analysis with his vast knowledge of literature and history. Wesseling also was a fan favorite on the Around The NFL Podcast, where he offered his signature style of football knowledge and humor when discussing league news and breaking down games with colleagues Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal and Marc Sessler.

The news of Wesseling’s death prompted an outpouring of remembrances on social media Saturday.

CORONA SPREAD AND FOOTBALL

The NFL completed a full season in the wake of Covid and its accompanying concerns/hysteria.  So too, to some level, did most other levels of football.

Those in fear of everything wanted to stop football because the virus would roam unchecked across the line of scrimmage and through the huddle.  While it has had plenty of Covid, the NFL found that it did not spread on the field as Peter King learns:

• Football doesn’t spread the virus.

The Titans played at Minnesota in Week 3 and immediately thereafter had 24 players and staff test positive. No Vikings players or staff in the wake of the game tested positive.

“We did learn through that experience and others through the season that spreading the virus on the field was an incredibly unlikely event. Thankfully for us, we did not see transmission anywhere during the season between teams. As we like to say, the virus did not cross this line of scrimmage. A couple of theories there. I think the outdoor or the big open-air environments are huge. There’s quick dispersal of droplets. Those spaces are all really well-ventilated, again whether you’re talking about an open-air stadium or a giant indoor stadium. Great ventilation in there. Also, the interactions between players, even though they’re tackling each other, blocking each other, when you sum all that up it’s still a really short period of time.

“The second thing I’d say we learned out of the Tennessee-Minnesota situation is prior to that, everyone focused on close contacts being within six feet or less for 15 minutes or more. Clearly, in that scenario, we figured out that those were not the limits of transmission. Transmission could occur in less than 15 minutes and in more than six feet of space.”

There were some somewhat serious cases in the NFL among older coaches and other personnel.  But no reported hospitalizations and no cases of any great impact among players.

Joe Kinsey of Outkick.com is triumphant:

I don’t care if Super Bowl LV was a blowout, it was so damn nice to have a Super Bowl Sunday after the Peter Kings and Mike Florios of the world tried their best to sow so much doubt about the NFL’s ability to pull off a season. The college football coronabros failed to kill off a season and so did the NFL media members who tried so desperately to not let Sunday night in Tampa happen.

What we were left with was a Super Bowl that might’ve had 25,000 or so people inside the building, but it felt like a Super Bowl. Tiger Woods was in a suite wearing shorts and taking photos. Robert Kraft was hanging with Shaq, Meek Mill and Aaron Judge. Jackson Mahomes was off crying in some corner. Tom Brady’s parents were there watching their son add yet another layer to his spot in history. The streaker added some excitement. The halftime show was terrible like it normally is.

What I’ll take away from Super Bowl LV is that it was pretty normal, minus some very dark commercials and pregame programming from CBS and the Shield. Now we move on to the Daytona 500 and yet another layer of bringing this country out of a pandemic. Golf is back to having fans — at least in Arizona — and even Spring Training will have fans at games.

The blue checkmark nerds will now move on to calling Super Bowl LV a superspreader event, crush Tom Brady for his relationship with Donald Trump, and continue to live miserable lives. We will not let them win. They will not suck every last drop of joy out of the world.

We would note that most of the events Kinsey mentions, including upcoming PGA TOUR events with fans, are in Florida and Arizona.

NFL HONORS

Congratulations to the seven new enshrinees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as well as the other winners at Saturday’s NFL Honors virtual shindig.  This wrap-up from Bryan D’Ardo and Jordan Dejani of CBSSports.com:

Longtime comedian and TV host Steve Harvey hosted this year’s virtual NFL Honors. A Browns fan, Harvey kicked off the festivities by congratulating Jarvis Landry (who was among the players who watched the festivities virtually) on helping Cleveland snap its 18-year playoff drought. Harvey also took delight in the Patriots missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008. While Patriots fans probably did not like that portion of the evening, T.J. Watt clearly took offense to not being named this year’s Defensive Player of the Year. On a lighter note, Kyler Murray’s wardrobe immediately went viral, as the Cardinals’ quarterback clearly chose comfort over style.

Here’s a look at each of Saturday night’s award winners, as well as the Hall of Fame’s newest class.

Award winners

MVP: QB Aaron Rodgers, Packers: Rodgers is now a three-time MVP after winning the honor in 2011 and in 2014. In his 13th season as Green Bay’s starting quarterback, Rodgers led the NFL in touchdown passes (48) and completion percentage (70.7%).

Walter Payton Man of the Year: QB Russell Wilson, Seahawks: Wilson is involved in various charities that includes his own foundation. In 2020, Wilson and his wife Ciara partnered with Food Lifeline to donate over a million meals to those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Comeback Player of the Year: QB Alex Smith, Washington: After a major leg injury kept him out for an entire season, Smith not only played in 2020, but he helped lead Washington to its first division title since 2015. Smith won five of his six starts while completing nearly 67% of his passes.

Offensive Rookie of the Year: QB Justin Herbert, Chargers: The No. 6 overall pick re-wrote the NFL’s rookie passing record book. In 2020, the former Oregon Duck completed nearly 67% of his throws for 4,336 yards and 31 touchdowns. He threw at least two touchdowns 10 times and for over 300 yards eight times.

Defensive Rookie of the Year: DE Chase Young, Washington: The No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 draft racked up 7.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. Young returned one of those fumbles for a score while helping Washington win the NFC East.

Defensive Player of the Year: DT Aaron Donald, Rams: This is Donald’s third DPOY award over the past four years. An All-Pro for a sixth straight year in 2020, Donald tallied 13.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, and 14 tackles for loss.

Offensive Player of the Year: RB Derrick Henry, Titans: Henry won his second consecutive rushing title in 2002. He also became the eighth player in NFL history to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season. His 2,027 yards is the fifth-highest in league history.

Coach of the Year: Kevin Stefanski, Browns: In his first season in Cleveland, Stefanski led the Browns to an 11-5 record and the franchise’s first postseason berth since 2020. The Browns also won their first playoff game since 1994.

Assistant Coach of the Year: OC Brian Daboll, Bills: Under Daboll, the 2020 Bills finished second in the NFL in scoring, third in rushing, and third in third-down efficiency. Quarterback Josh Allen enjoyed a breakout year that saw him score 45 total touchdowns.

Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award: QB Teddy Bridgewater, Panthers: Bridgewater, who enjoyed a successful first season in Carolina, joins former Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly as Carolina players that have won this award.

Deacon Jones Award: OLB T.J. Watt, Steelers: Watt won the award after leading the NFL with 15 sacks. He also paced the league with 23 tackles for loss.

FedEx Air & Ground Players of the Year: QB Aaron Rodgers/RB Derrick Henry: Rodgers led the NFL in several statistical categories in 2020. He also threw just five interceptions while completing nearly 71% of his passes. Henry averaged nearly 5.4 yards per carry in 2020. He also had ten 100-yard games and three 200-yard outings.

Bridgestone Clutch Performance Play of the Year: QB Kyler Murray and WR DeAndre Hopkins, Cardinals: Kyler’s “Hail Murray” game-winning touchdown pass to Hopkins against the Bills won the best play of the year for 2020.

Hall of Fame Class of 2021

OL Alan Faneca (1998-2007): A nine-time Pro Bowler and six-time All-Pro, Faneca was a key member of the Steelers’ 2005 championship team. A member of the NFL’s All-2000s Team, Faneca also played an integral role in the Jets’ 2009 AFC title game run.

WR Calvin Johnson (2007-2015): “Megatron” was a six-time Pro Bowler, three-time All-Pro and a member of the NFL’s All-2000s Team. A two-time receiving champion, Johnson’s 1,964 yards is the highest single-season total in league history.

DB John Lynch (1993-2007): Lynch was a five-time Pro Bowler and strong safety and was also a Pro Bowler during each of his four seasons at free safety. Lynch played a key role in the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl XXXVII victory.

QB Peyton Manning (1998-2015): The only five-time league MVP, Manning retired as the NFL’s all-time career leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns. The first starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl with two different franchises, Manning’s 55 touchdown passes in 2013 is still a single-season record.

DB Charles Woodson (1998-2015): A former Heisman Trophy winner, Woodson’s NFL accomplishments include Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, nine Pro Bowls, four All-Pro selections and a member of the NFL’s All-2000s Team. Woodson was also a key contributor on two Super Bowl teams that included Green Bay’s 2010 Super Bowl-winning team.

Senior inductee: WR Drew Pearson (1973-1983): A three-time All-Pro, Pearson is the only member of the NFL’s All-1970s Team that is not already enshrined in Canton. The recipient of the NFL’s first Hail Mary pass, Pearson helped lead the Cowboys to seven NFL championship game appearances, three NFC titles and a victory in Super Bowl XII.

Contributor: Bill Nunn: Before being known as the Steelers’ “Super Scout,” Nunn was a successful sportswriter and managing editor of The Pittsburgh Courier, which was one of the nation’s most influential Black publications. Nunn used his deep knowledge of historical Black college football programs to create an annual “Black College All-America Team.”

In 1968, Nunn joined the Steelers as the team’s assistant personnel director. Nunn is credited for acquiring the Steelers players that would contribute to the team’s 1970s dynasty. Those players include Joe Greene, Mel Blount, L.C. Greenwood, Dwight White, Ernie Holmes, John Stallworth, Donnie Shell, Joe Gilliam and Frank Lewis, among others. Nunn, who died in 2014, is one of the few members of the Steelers’ organization to play a hand in each of the team’s six Super Bowl victories.

Coach: Tom Flores: An assistant on the Raiders’ first Super Bowl championship team, Flores was promoted to head coach following John Madden’s retirement after the 1978 season. In 1980, the Raiders became the first wild-card team to win the Super Bowl after upsetting the favored Eagles in Super Bowl XV. Three years later, Flores led the Raiders to another Super Bowl upset, as the Raiders shocked Washington (the defending champion) in Super Bowl XVIII, 38-9. The first Latino quarterback in NFL history, Flores is also the first Latino head coach to win the Super Bowl. He is just one of just 12 head coaches with multiple Super Bowl victories, and just one of two coaches (Bill Belichick being the other) to defeat two Super Bowl-winning coaches in the big game.

If you are looking ahead to the HOF Class of 2021, this from Adam Schefter:

@AdamSchefter

Players eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the first time in 2022 include DeMarcus Ware, Devin Hester, Steve Smith Sr., Robert Mathis, Andre Johnson, Vince Wilfork, Anquan Boldin.

Certainly some Hall of Famers on that list, but we’re not sure we see any that command instant enshrinement without discussion.