It was first and goal on the 3-yard line with 10 seconds left in the first overtime period. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes escaped the pocket and threw the ball to a wide open Mecole Hardman in the endzone. With that completion, the Chiefs won their third Super Bowl in five years by a score of 25-22, Mahomes secured his third Super Bowl MVP and the Chiefs firmly established themselves as a football dynasty in the National Football League. 

The Feb. 13 thriller was a rematch of Super Bowl 54, when the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20. Super Bowl 58 was a matchup between rival powerhouses and included a confluence of storylines, like Taylor Swift and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s high-profile relationship garnering new viewers. All those side plots, along with an exhilarating finish, culminated in Super Bowl 58 being the most watched U.S. television program of all time, averaging 123.7 million viewers across all platforms. 

As the first Super Bowl to ever be played in Las Vegas, the game brought a mix of slot machine mundanity and roulette thrills. 

Super Bowl 58 was the second Super Bowl to ever extend into overtime, yet the first to have a scoreless first quarter. The record for field goal distance in a Super Bowl was also broken twice, first by 49ers kicker Jake Moody, who scored from 55 yards, then by Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, who made a kick from 57 yards. 

Graham Gallagher, a third-year psychology major and Seattle Seahawks fan, was by no means thrilled by his prospects of who to support. Rooting against the Kansas City Chiefs rather than cheering for the 49ers, Gallhager described it as a better of two evils scenario. 

“Going into overtime is really all you can hope for, especially as a neutral,” Gallagher said, feeling like the game varied from being stale to exciting—citing the hour and a half (real-time) drought for a 49ers first down during the middle of the game, contrasted by a game-winning overtime touchdown drive for Kansas City.  

Football’s most prestigious game was by no means flawless either. There were three total fumbles lost, including one by 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey at Kansas City’s 27-yard line on the opening drive of the game. This made for an entertaining back and forth, but also meant that the 49ers had trouble getting their feet under them… which can prove costly against Patrick Mahomes. The Niners’ 10-0 lead in the second quarter would be gone by the end of the third quarter, as Mahomes overcame a 10-point deficit similar to the one he faced against San Francisco in Super Bowl 54. 

Jason Carpenter, a fourth-year nursing major at Seattle University and lifelong 49ers fan, has never seen the 49ers win a Super Bowl in his lifetime. In fact, the loss marks 29 seasons since the Lombardi Trophy was in the hands of the Niners. 

Carpenter’s prediction before the game was eerily accurate for what the keys to a 49ers’ victory would’ve been.

 “I think that the [defensive] line needs to step up, pressuring Mahomes and keeping him contained. We also need to get off to a good start,” Carpenter said.

Not only did the 49ers give the ball away after being on the cusp of scoring their opening drive, Mahomes was also the Chiefs’ leading rusher with 66 yards on nine carries, including an 8-yard scamper on 4th-and-1 from the Kansas City 34-yard line in overtime. 

According to Karim Jooma, a second-year law student at Seattle U, “San Francisco had the better team on paper, but you can never bet against Mahomes.” 

Mahomes threw for 333 yards with two touchdowns and an interception on 34 of 46 passing. Comparatively, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy threw for 255 yards and one touchdown on 23 of 38 passing while only tallying 12 rushing yards. 

Let’s shift focus to what some people consider the most important reasons to watch the Super Bowl—the commercials and the halftime show.

The Super Bowl is one of the largest annual commercial events on the planet. As such, a 30-second ad costs roughly $7 million. Despite the hefty price tag, and a notable amount of star power, including Tom Brady and Beyonce, “The commercials were pretty underwhelming,” according to Jooma. 

One of the most talked about ads of the year was online shopping platform Temu’s commercial. Lacking the extravagant production of many Super Bowl ads, the same animated scene accompanied by a catchy jingle ran three separate times. 

Touching briefly on Usher, his performance included segments of over a dozen songs and featured Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Ludacris, Lil Jon and even a college marching band. The choreography was also impressively varied, featuring large ensemble dancing, Usher’s trademark sensuous moves and some surprise roller skating. 

Taking place in the entertainment capital of the world, Super Bowl 58 gave football fans a fitting game of highs and lows. Ultimately it was Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes who flipped the winning hand. Just like this year’s commercials, there were high expectations for the San Francisco 49ers, but they were unable to close on the biggest stage.

Despite it all, if you wanted both teams to lose, at least Usher won.