Super Bowl LV: Kansas City Chiefs v Tampa Bay Buccaneers – live!

Miss the day when players could smoke on the sidelines? (LEGAL NOTE: The Guardian does not endorse smoking – even the low tar ones.) Then take a stroll through our gallery of Super Bowls past (also featuring the Giants dressed as Shirley Temple, which is as terrifying as it sounds):

Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce has appeared on CBS and talked about his offensive coordinator, Eric Bieniemy.

“I think it’s disrespectful that he hasn’t found a head coaching job yet,” said Kelce. “But I’ll reap the benefit of him being here every single year and we’ll just keep making the Super Bowl as long as we’ve got him.”

Bieniemy has been one of the masterminds of one of the most explosive offenses in NFL history. And, yet, despite the dearth of coaches of a colour in a league where the majority of players are black, Bieniemy has been unable to find a head coaching job while LOTS of guys who look like Sean McVay are put in charge of teams.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is asked about the NFL’s lack of black coaches. He says he takes the issue “very seriously” and admits the league “didn’t do as well as we wanted”. It’s easy to put the blame on Goodell and the league office – and there’s plenty to blame the commissioner for! – but the fact is that the white billionaires who own NFL teams are the ones choosing not to employ black coaches.

Andrew Lawrence has more on the coaching situation in the NFL below:

Hello and welcome to coverage of [checks Roman numerals] Super Bowl 55, between the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs and the hometown Tampa Bay Buccaneers (the first team to play in their own stadium in Super Bowl history). Usually the Guardian would be in the stadium, but with the pandemic this year the NFL could only promise us a desk in the media center in the stadium carpark, so we’ll be in front of the TV too. No matter, let’s face it, NFL is better on TV than live anyway.

The most obvious question is: who is going to win? Four of our writers had their say, and their thoughts are below:

Chiefs 31-24 Buccaneers. The combination of Brady and Bowles is about as good as you can hope for in trying to knock the Chiefs off their perch. No one is capable of stopping the Chiefs, but all the Bucs require is a defense that slows Mahomes-Andy Reid machine down, even for a possession or two. Tampa have the talent and staff to be able to pull off such a plan. I have the Bucs giving Brady a chance on the final possession but coming up just short. The Chiefs’ offensive power, even with all the Bowles goodness, is just too overwhelming. And even when plays break down, nobody is better off-script than Mahomes. The Chiefs go back-to-back and Mahomes takes home a second successive MVP. Oliver Connolly

Chiefs 30-29 Buccaneers. As exposed as Mahomes figures to be on the edge, one could easily see the Bucs defense forgetting about the QB’s wheels until it’s too late. Whether it’s by picking up chunk yardage or buying time to fire darts to Cheetah & Co, eventually, Mahomes will take their heart. Andrew Lawrence

Chiefs 34-17 Buccaneers. Look for the teams to keep it close for a while but by the fourth quarter, the Chiefs will have the lead and salt it way with one of those Mahomes bursts where he rattles off two touchdowns in the blink of an eye. Hunter Felt

Chiefs 30-33 Buccaneers. I said it mid-season and I will say it again, Tom Brady and the Bucs will win the Super Bowl. Picking against Brady is a fool’s errand especially now he is an underdog. Six titles and your team not being favourite is testament to how good the Chiefs are but Brady will have the last word in the game with a last-minute drive and possibly on which QB is truly the greatest. Same time next year, Tom. Graham Searles

You can read the predictions in full below: