Participants,

As mentioned a couple days ago, congrats to HenricoFiveOh for winning the 32nd HSBT!  It required a huge comeback by the Kansas City Chiefs in the waning moments, and they delivered (once again)!  As for the Super Bowl game, below is my recap, followed by the HSBT final standings:

Super Bowl LIV Recap
164-1.  Prior to the Sunday night tilt, that was the record during the 2019 NFL  regular season for teams that were ahead by 10 points or more with less than 7 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter.  That number is now 164-2, with the utter collapse of the 49ers in the waning moments of SB LIV.  SF QB Jimmy G was all but admiring his MVP trophy, until the 49ers decided to fall apart late in the game, allowing the Chiefs to score 21 unanswered points and come away with a 31-20 victory.

For the 3rd consecutive time in this year’s playoffs, the Chiefs found a way to Comeback (Kid?) from 10 or more points and win!  A league record, for sure, which caused massive heart palpitations for the KC faithful all night long.  It wasn’t a matter of IF they were going to comeback, it was a question of HOW it would happen.  The impetus seemed to be the blatant offensive pass interference call on SF TE George Kittle on a catch that would have moved the 49ers inside the 10.  The refs got this one right (not an overly frequent occurrence during the playoffs…).  From that point forward the Chiefs speed on offense took over and the rest is history, as the Chiefs won their 2nd championship in 50 years.

HSBT Update
With the 49ers comfortably in the lead after the 3rd quarter and a victory assured, Comeback Kid was feeling pretty good with a 120+ point lead over Buffalo Bill.  Those 2 participants were the only one’s to pick SF to win, and were feeling pretty smug.  Then the Chiefs got a TD to make it 20-17.  No change in the HSBT race, so Comeback Kid started preparing his victory speech.  Surely, the 49ers vaunted D would not allow any more scoring, right?  How easy is it to hold the ball on offense and just run, run, run for repeated 1st downs and burn the game clock down to 00:00?  Then Jimmy G decided to put it in the air and it was a nice catch by the Chiefs LB.  From there, a few more plays and we’re at 24-20 in favor of the Chiefs!  Just like that, Pete the Terp surges into the lead by 16 points over Comeback Kid!  How nice to speed up the healing of the wounds suffered by the Ravens in their loss earlier in the playoffs.  Certainly, the 49ers can make a long drive in the waning moments and at least get a FG to tie it (or better yet, a TD to win the Lombardi Trophy!).  Oops, the SF offense became offensive and the Chiefs had the ball again.  A quick strike 38-yard TD scamper by RB Damien Williams and the trophy has changed hands once again, ending up in the Richmond, VA area for a 2nd consecutive year!

With that improbable series of events, HenricoFiveOh makes the largest Comeback (not Kid…) in HSBT history (233 points) and will keep the prized trophy on his mantle for another year.  Here are your Final HSBT standings:

• HenricoFiveOh – 754 points (the lowest winning number of points since 2008)
• 2020 Winner – 707 points and oh, so close (a 49er FG or TD would have won it for him)
• Comeback Kid – 659 points and probably re-thinking that prediction of a 49er win.  The pressure of being in the lead proved to be too much…  He earns the Bronze Chicken Wing for his 3rd place finish
• Buffalo Bill – 593 points (“why did I pick the 49ers?” – the pressure of being in 2nd place before the Super Bowl).  Had he picked KC to win by the same score he predicted, he would be holding the trophy for the 1st time since 2003…
• Greg the Great – 552 points, and was hoping for a higher scoring game
• Pete the Terp – 551 points, and would have been holding his 3rd trophy had the Chiefs not scored that last TD…
• JTB – 419 points and needed an offensive explosion bigger than the Halftime show to earn his 2nd trophy

All the important stats will be updated and posted on our website (which I’m sure you view at least weekly during the off-season) over the next few weeks.  Again, congrats to HenricoFiveOh on his record 8th HSBT victory!

Until next year’s playoffs, I remain

THE Commish