Hail To The

Stayed up late last night to finish the Steelers-Chiefs Christmas Day game before Netflix removes it. They’re two of my favorite teams, but they’re trending in opposite directions.

The Chiefs are fantastic. What can I say. Their defense has been playing at Superbowl-level all season. Watching Kelsey sniff out and weave into open spaces is like witnessing a physics professor slowly unscramble and piece together an equation to reveal its simplicity and elegance. And that Mahomes flip to a still-fallen Perine for a first down on third-and-long is backyard beyond high-level NFL stuff. They’re such a poised, creative, expert football team.

The Steelers have been good but it seems like they’re still in the middle of forging their identity here at the end of the regular season. I consider Coach Tomlin to be the best coach in the league, but he still has a lot of work to do with this team. They’ll hammer it out, but not this season I’m afraid.

I’m also closely watching a couple of teams I love. The Bengals are still fighting for a playoff spot and will need skill and luck to get there, but I’m rooting for Joe Burrow. He seems to have both.

As for the Packers, they’re making a strong run. They’re young and smart and scrappy on both ends of the field. They’ve won a lot of games as they continue to learn how to win. I hope they make it to the Superbowl this year. But I feel that they have yet to really fully click, that there’s still something missing. Hopefully a championship is it.

I haven’t seen the script, so my guess (wish?) for Superbowl LIX is: Chiefs vs. Packers. Chiefs 3-peat.