Most Unusual Superb Owl (2023 Season) Thoughts

Well, was that a classic or a shitshow?  Really, it was both.  For 3+ quarters of footy, only the kickers really did anything.  Nothing really happened with either offense.

Then…everything happened.  Except we were 1 second on the play clock away from entering Q6.

Two turnovers each way, but only the Chefs converted into points (after a fluky punt off the blocker’s heel game them the ball inside the Santa Clara 20).  Baby Shanny, down 3, then had the bollocks to go for it on 4th and 3 from the KC 15.  He got it by a pubic hair, on a beautifully executed George Kittle cut.  Seriously, it was way harder than it looked.

The extra point was the same distance as the tying FG that Baby Shanny passed on (a move that even I wouldn’t have made).  16-13 it stays.  Mahomes drives into FG range, a dog-tired Tomsulas defense somehow bowing its back.  Aware of this, they clearly aim to bleed the clock dry and win at the gun – but Spagnulo (the real playoff MVP) dialed up the perfect playcall on 3rd and 4, taking us to 4th and 4 from the 35, just after the 2:00 warning.

Now, I was thinking “you can’t kick – you’re drawing ded if you miss.”  But this time, they DO kick, and Moody is good from 53.  He would have set the all-time Owl record with an earlier 55-yarder…except that Butker was later good from 57.  Somewhat predictably, Mahomes drove his men down the pitch, but couldn’t convert his one end zone shot from the 10.  We go to Extra Time at 19-19;

Tails doesn’t fail, and it was Fred Warner’s call.  Santa Clara has a chip and a chair, you get the feeling (again) they have to get a tuddy and end it.  Thanks to a dumb defensive holding BLEERGH, they avoid the 3-and-out, and remember they have Christian McCaffrey.  He earns the hard yards, and Kittle pitches in as well.  They just got SO CLOSE, all the way to the KC 9.  But the 2nd down run gets stuffed, and 3rd down pass falls incomplete.  There are no good options here, but they kick for 22-19.

Somehow, that Tomsulas defense found a deep well of reserve energy, when they absolutely had to.  Until now.  Mahomes took what was given, converting 4th and 2 feet, then never again facing an “elimination” down.  That half-step slower the defense was?  It was too much for Mahomes’ CPU, and he killed them slowly but surely.

25-22, fin.  Two well-coached teams not at their very best, but each fought their asses off.  A fair and fitting end to a pretty compelling season.

No dying over the next 7 months, FITBAW will return with the autumn breeze.