Perhaps New England Patriots fans had a rooting interest in Super Bowl LIV after all.
A statistic The Boston’s Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy shared Tuesday offered a compelling reason why Patriots fans should have been rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs to beat the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl all along. Bay Area, Calif., rivals Boston for the “Titletown, USA” tag for the 2010s decade, and that part of the West Coast was a Super Bowl win away from claiming the throne outright Sunday.
“It turns out that the Bay area has been our equal over the last decade, and if the 49ers had prevailed Sunday, that region would have more championships than Boston since 2010,” Shaughnessy wrote. “Instead, we are tied with six crowns and 11 appearances in finals over the last decade.”
Shaughnessy offers a further breakdown of the 2010s “Titletown, USA” race.
“Since 2010, the Bay area has won three World Series (Giants in 2010, 2012, 2014) and three NBA crowns (Warriors 2015, 2017, 2018),” he continued. “In addition, its teams have been in five other championship rounds (2012 Niners, 2016 Sharks and Warriors, 2019 Warriors, and 2019 49ers). Boston since 2010 has six championships in 11 finals (Celtics 0-1, Bruins 1-2, Patriots 3-2, Red Sox 2-0).”
The 49ers-Chiefs matchup had a host of Patriots connections, most notably San Francisco quarterback Jimmy Garappolo, who spent three-plus seasons as Tom Brady’s backup. Garappolo’s presence and animus some New England fans feel toward the Chiefs, one of the Patriots’ principle rivals for AFC supremacy in the last few years, might have caused some of them to side with San Francisco in the big.
Nevertheless, the Chiefs downed the 49ers 31-20 on Sunday in Super Bowl LIV to preserve the “Titletown, USA” tie for eternity.
