Super Bowl LV is now in the books and, with it, a number of firsts. The Big Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offered an amazing matchup that had football fans and gamblers pacing with anticipation, but definitely did not go the way most people expected. With the NFL season having survived COVID-19, it’s now time to look ahead and try to get ready for a new era of football that will see much greater sports gambling.

The Chiefs were viewed as the favorites to win, but were only given three points by oddsmakers. That should have indicated a tight competition and a battle between two of the best quarterbacks in the league, Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady. However, what looks good on paper doesn’t always work when put into play, and Brady and the Bucs had no problem rolling over Mahomes and the Chiefs, completely controlling the game on both offense and defense. 

The Chiefs only managed to score a field goal in each of the first three quarters as Mahomes was repeatedly forced out of the pocket and made to scramble. However, he showed why he deserved to be in the Super Bowl, handling the pressure like a long-time veteran. Despite continued problems, Mahomes still managed to put up more passing yards than Brady, throwing for 243 yards against his rival’s 201.

It wasn’t good enough, though. The Bucs, the first team to ever play in a Super Bowl in its own stadium, dominated from start to finish. Brady became the first quarterback to pick up seven Super Bowl titles and the first to win a fifth MVP award (the only player with five) as he led his Bucs to their first Super Bowl win since the 2002 season. It was also the first Super Bowl in which the NFL had seen the presence of a female referee, with Sarah Thomas on the field as the down judge. In a couple more firsts for the NFL, Maral Javadifar and Lori Locust became the first female coaches to win a Super Bowl title – Javadifar as the Bucs’ assistant strength and conditioning coach and Locust is the team’s defensive line assistant.