Remarks from Mark

Super Bowl Sunday was a fun day for me, as it featured three of my favorite things: family, food and football.

The only disappointing part, though? The final score of the big game, which didn't go in favor of my favorite pro football team.

I didn't expect the Kansas City Chiefs to get beat down, 31-9, by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team Kansas City defeated, 27-24, on Nov. 29 in a regular-season road game.

What I did expect was a close championship contest, with the Chiefs coming out on top in Tampa, Florida, for back-to-back Vince Lombardi trophies.

However, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes was unable to lead the Chiefs back from another double-digit deficit, which he did three times the previous postseason.

I just can't believe Kansas City didn't score one touchdown with its high-flying offense and only converted three field goals.

Consecutive Super Bowl wins were just not to be for Chiefs fans, who will just have to continue enjoying Kansas City's Super Bowl LIV championship from last year.

I really wish Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady would just retire already; he's 7-3 in the big game, so what else does he have left to prove?

While I'm a Chiefs fan, I'm also a Nebraska Cornhuskers fan, so I guess I can at least be happy for the Buccaneers' Lavonte David, Khalil Davis and Ndamukong Suh.

Those three former Huskers play on Tampa Bay's disruptive defense, as does former Boys Town and University of Nebraska at Omaha football player Shaq Barrett.

Other connections the Buccaneers have to the Cornhusker State:

-Tampa Bay general manager Jason Licht is a Fremont native.

-Assistant special teams coach Chad Wade is a Weeping Water native who graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University and worked 1996-2013 at Nebraska.

Anyway, this deflating Super Bowl defeat is obviously disappointing for Kansas City fans, with misery emanating from Missouri and across Chiefs Kingdom.

I was covered nearly head-to-toe in Kansas City gear for the big game, including my Mahomes jersey, which I'm sure my face was as red as with frustration.

However, I have to remember that I got to spend Sunday, Feb. 7, with some family members I don't get to see every day and that's always more important than football.

Before the Super Bowl, my father-in-law and I ventured to Yankton, in winter weather, to pick up pizza and tacos for our party.

I also bought flowers for my wife, Christina, as well as a cold brew coffee and a box of Mahomes Magic Crunch for myself while we were out and about.

Mahomes maybe should've had some of his cereal plus some Wheaties before the big game because his play was far from magical or worthy of a champion.

The Super Bowl LV loss left me with a bad taste in my mouth and I'm sure it has for other Chiefs fans as well as Kansas City coaches and players.

Mahomes may very well drown his sorrows in food covered in ketchup, a condiment he's obsessed with, before moving on to next season.

At least the Chiefs had a successful regular season in 2020, going 14-2. Reaching back-to-back big games is also no small feat.

I just hope Kansas City is hungry enough to go on another Super Bowl run in 2021 after getting trounced in Tampa.

After such a humbling loss, the Chiefs need to go into next season with fire in their bellies and a desire to taste victory again in the big game.

In the meantime, I've been eating leftovers and thinking about other topics to cover in my column now that the 2020-21 NFL season is finished.