Who are you rooting for today, the 49ers or the Chiefs?
It’s Super Bowl Sunday and for the 28th straight year, it will not feature the Dallas Cowboys. That’s a long time. It’s weird if you think about it. The team was in half of the Super Bowls in the ‘70s, then went on a drought in the ‘80s only to be in three of them in the ‘90s. In fact, all eight of the Cowboy’s Super Bowl appearances occurred in a shorter span (26 years) than this current Super Bowl drought. That’s depressing.
But with or without the Cowboys, the Super Bowl rolls on and this year it will feature the Kansas City Chiefs versus the San Francisco 49ers. Which of these teams will you be rooting for?
On the surface, most Cowboys fans are likely to root for the Chiefs because the 49ers are one of the Cowboys’ most historic rivals. But is that what you’ll be doing? Some of us don’t particularly care for either team and it’s more about who we’re rooting against. To keep in that same spirit, we’ve outlined a few reasons to root against each of these teams.
THE REASON TO ROOT AGAINST THE 49ERS
It feels like it’s an easy choice to just root against the 49ers. As we’ve mentioned, the Cowboys and 49ers have a lot of history. Nine times the Cowboys have faced the 49ers in the playoffs throughout their existence, with six of those games occurring in the NFC Championship. Long-time fans do not need to be reminded about some of the emotional playoff losses. Between “The Catch” and the “Deion no-call” we’ve seen some unsavory things go down at Candlestick Park over the years. And even the younger fans are well aware that the 49ers have bounced the Cowboys out of the playoffs in two of the last three seasons.
Of course, the Cowboys have certainly had more than their share of success against San Francisco in the playoffs. Twice in the ‘90s, they sent them home in the NFC Championship, and in the game where Jimmy Johnson guaranteed a victory, it wasn’t even close. The Cowboys lead the overall playoff series 5-4.
While we all know the Cowboys are on a short list of teams that haven’t been to the NFC Championship game in a long while, they have a Super Bowl win more recently than San Francisco. The 49ers haven’t won since the 1994 season. It would be nice if that remained true. Also, only the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers have more Super Bowl wins (6) than the Cowboys (5), but another Lombardi for the 49ers would allow them to jump Dallas and join the six-ring club, and we don’t want that.
THE REASON TO ROOT AGAINST THE CHIEFS
Unless you’re a fan of a team in the AFC West, there is not really a good reason to root against the Chiefs. They don’t have any players who are obnoxious and make it difficult to like them. Patrick Mahomes seems like a nice guy, Travis Kelce is amazing, and even Andy Reid, who we grew to dislike when he was in Philadelphia, has certainly regained favor since joining KC.
If there is a reason to root against them, it might just be that we’re getting sick of them winning stuff. The Chiefs have won two of the last four Super Bowls, they’ve been to four of the last five Super Bowls, and they’ve been to the AFC Championship game in each of the last six seasons. That’s insane. In a time where it’s hard to build a dynasty, the Chiefs have done exactly that. They are becoming the new New England, only with expedited success and without scandalous cheating.
Chiefs or 49ers, Finkle or Einhorn, the choices are difficult, but we have to root for someone. Who would you like to see win the big game and do you have a good reason that wasn’t mentioned to justify your decision?
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