Chiefs, 49ers return to Super Bowl; Frustration, heartbreak for the Lions, Ravens.

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🏆 Good morning everyone, but especially…

Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers

The more things change, the more they stay the same: Chiefs Going back to the Super Bowl, and they’re facing an opponent they met there four years ago: the 49ers,

It’s hard to overstate how influential Kansas City was. The reigning champion went to Baltimore and was strangled lamar jacksoncommitted the crime while achieving excellent performance from patrick mahomes And travis kels in a crushing 17-10 win over crows, Kansas City is headed to its fourth Super Bowl in five seasons,

Mahomes’ statistics may not look amazing, but his ability to make the right play — sometimes highlight-worthy, sometimes mediocre and sometimes just smart — helped the visitors perform well enough against the league’s best defense. . It helps that he had Kelce (11 receptions, 116 yards, one touchdown and a big record broken), but at the decisive moment of the game, he found Marquez Valdes-Scantling On a perfect toss of 32 yards.

it was Another great performance from Mahomes when his team needed it mostI wrote from Baltimore.

• Parless: “It was emblematic of the Chiefs’ path this season. Valdes-Scantling dropped a similar pass against Eagles in November, a game in which Kansas City lost four of its next six. but mahomes then took the blame And was eager to praise Sunday. …Like this game, this has been far from Mahomes’ best season. But through those struggles, he improved his ability to manage games – a skill often used to ridicule quarterbacks but which helped lead the Chiefs to the Super Bowl.

The defense, meanwhile, was absolutely fantastic, holding the Ravens to a season-low 10 points. Even more wonderful? Jeff Kerr’s story on a shirt made in honor of the Chiefs defense and its coordinator.

Then there was an aggressive shootout in a game that was again heavy on theatrics. 49ers erase 17-point halftime deficit – Largest in conference championship history –to defeat lions34-31.

After playing a bad half, the 49ers played some of the best football I’ve seen and pulled off a few breaks along the way. His second-half drive chart was: Field goal, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, take a knee to end the game. along the way, brandon ayuk Make One of the greatest catches you’ll ever see, Christian McCaffrey broke a record, Jahmir Gibbs faltered, josh reynolds Two passes were dropped and the Lions failed on two fourth downs and had a clock error. More on that in a bit.

But I want to talk about Brock Purdy. Here’s his second half: 13 of 16 passing for 174 yards and a score as well as four rushes for 49 yards. Yes, Purdy helped the 49ers lose. But there is a reason for this too kyle shanahan I went 0-31 when down by more than five points in the fourth quarter before last week And 0-19 when down 17+ in the second half before this week and now have wins in both scenarios. Because Pudgy – although he may dig some potholes for you – can also save you from them. What a performance.

Some early Super Bowl content…

👍 Honorable Mention

😔And not such a good morning…

baltimore ravens and detroit lions

Losing hurts, but losing really hurts when winning is within your grasp. And the Ravens and Lions both had Super Bowl trips.

Baltimore will regret a day full of missed opportunities, terrible mistakes and too much offense. Here’s a laundry list of failures:

• Eight punts for 95 yards, including five personal fouls
• Jai PhoolAfter a few moments of a taunting punishment, fell a few inches short of the goal line
• Jackson threw an interception in triple coverage
• Running back had six carries for 23 yards (and only 16 carries for 81 yards overall).
• Forced three turnovers (two in scoring position) and zero turnovers.

It seemed like a team that was there before and a team that wasn’tJeff Kerr writes.

Meanwhile, the lion Collapsed, plain and simple. Two major falls by Reynolds that would have been the first fall. A Gibbs stumbles. An ill-conceived (and, worse, poorly executed) play late in the game cost the Lions a crucial timeout.

Oh yes, and those two fourth-down failures that could have resulted in two field goals – six points – in a game the Lions lost by three.

But that’s who Dan Campbell is. I’m not going to criticize him follow their philosophy, which produced one of the best seasons in franchise history and completely revitalized the organization. He stick to your decisions After the game, and I have no problem with that. If Reynolds or Gibbs stay on the ball, we’re talking NFC champion Lions. Instead, we’re talking about what could have been, and heartbreaking loss of all time, And No one will take it harder than Campbell.

👎 Not so honorable mention

🏀 LeBron James, Stephen Curry deliver double-overtime thriller; Luka Doncic scored 73 runs

The NBA called it “Rivals Week” and, man, does this league ever deliver — Lebron James Vs Stephen Curry It was one of the greatest regular season games of all time. James (36 points, 20 rebounds, 12 assists) sank a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds left in the second overtime. lakers Won by 145-144 Warrior’s,

This game was an absolute disappointment: Curry (46 points, nine 3-pointers) forced overtime, clay thompson forced double overtime, D’Angelo Russell Said a lot of nonsense (good nonsense). And absurdly bad), and just when it looked like Golden State would snatch the win with another Curry 3-pointer, James got to the line and converted. Colin Ward-Henninger 10 Biggest Broke Moments, and honestly, the list could have been twice as long. I don’t know how many more LeBron-vs.-Steph matchups we’ll get, but they’ll just keep performing.

The night before, we got another all-timer: 73 points luka doncicFourth most in NBA history. devin booker there was one Only 62 inches Another night with two massive explosions,

Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka win Australian Open singles titles

For the first time in a decade, the Norman Brooks Challenge Cup features a name from outside the Big Three. jannik sinner speechless Novak Djokovik in the semi-finals and then advanced Daniil Medvedev, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3To win the Australian Open for her first Grand Slam title.

• The 22-year-old Sinner is the first Italian man to win an Australian Open title and the first Italian man to win any major thereafter. Adriano Panatta In 1976.
• He is the first player outside Djokovic, Rafael Nadal And Roger Federer to win the Australian Open since then stan wawrinka in 2014.

What a final this was. Medvedev took two sets, but Sinner came back to win the third and fourth sets and took control with a big forehand winner in the fifth set to take a break. The match winner, fittingly, was also a big forehand.

From women’s side, Arina Sabalenka Eliminate the possibility of a new champion qinwen zheng, 6-3, 6-2For her second consecutive Australian Open title. Sabalenka did not lose a single set in the entire tournament And was completely dominant against Zheng, winning eight of the first nine points.

Sabalenka, 25, is the first woman to repeat at the Australian Open Victoria Azarenka In 2012–13, and she already had her sights set on a three-peat, she told the crowd after a win, “I love you guys so much, and I can’t wait to get back.”

📺 What we’re watching on Monday

🏀 No. 12 Duke at Virginia Tech (M)7pm on ESPN
No. 9 LSU at Mississippi State (W)9pm on ESPN2
summer sunNBA TV at 7:30 p.m.
No. 4 Houston (M) at Texas9pm on ESPN
76ers at trail blazers10pm on NBA TV