The New England Patriots have won their 6th Lombardi Trophy now, through all the doubt from not only me but just about everyone. Most sports reporters thought that the Patriots had already peaked a while ago, and it was only downhill from there. But, as always, Belichick and Brady made it through to the Superbowl and finished strong. And there’s no argument anymore about who is the best coach in the history of the NFL. It’s Bill. Duh. He proved with Sunday night’s Super Bowl LIII win over the Los Angeles Rams, and there is no argument anymore. He has six Super Bowl rings now with the Patriots, and he’s won them in a variety of ways.
I am fully aware that I live in New England and it’s my job to support my teams (because they are really good), but more and more people are beginning to accept that Bill and Tom are quite the powerhouse, with both athleticism and now a large amount of acquired wisdom. The young and energetic privates were squashed by the much more battle-experienced veterans. But many critics (yes, everything has critics these days) are claiming that Super Bowl LIII may have been the worst Super Bowl to date.
For example, Rolling Stone explains that Sunday’s “punt-a-thon” was quite boring to most, including the team that walked away with the victory (to make an analogy with basketball, the Super Bowl was the teams running down the court with the ball and never scoring). And they have a point. In the interview on the field after the final whistle, Brady was nowhere near excited as he usually was. He usually was either jumping up and down like a kindergartener or collapsing from exhaustion, but this time all he said was “We’ve, uh, been this far and lost which is really tough,” then added “I wish we’d played a little better on offense, but we won … Super Bowl champs”
Along with the show put on by the two teams, the show put on by Maroon 5, Travis Scott, and Big Boi was also quite disappointing. There was the show itself, which wasn’t too bad, but the controversy behind it was quite annoying. In the 2004 super bowl halftime show, with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson, Jackson was fined for a wardrobe malfunction on stage. This time around, Adam Levine had no trouble finishing the show bare-chested. The controversy around who can or cannot take off their shirts is quite interesting to hear about.
What matters though is that this past Super Bowl wasn’t much of an excitement. Maybe football is dying, and people are moving on, or maybe the New England Patriots are just too good. Maybe not for the best.
Featured Image via Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports