It isn’t real yet, but in the virtual world, the Kansas City Chiefs are the repeat Super Bowl champions.
In Madden NFL 21’s official simulation of Super Bowl LV, the Chiefs beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 37-27 for their second consecutive Lombardi trophy.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter with a 12-yard run to give Kansas City a 34-27 lead. The Chiefs added a late field goal to account for the final margin.
The Madden simulation got the Super Bowl right last year, picking the Chiefs to beat the 49ers and Mahomes to be MVP. It ended two consecutive losses for the Madden sim, which had selected the Rams to beat the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII (New England won) and the Patriots to beat the Eagles in Super Bowl LII (the Eagles and Nick Foles were winners that year).
The sim did get it right for Super Bowl LI, picking New England to come from behind to beat the Falcons, but the Madden sim’s margin was not nearly as wide as the Patriots’ historic comeback from a 28-3 deficit.
Mahomes was the most valuable player in the Madden sim of Super Bowl LV after completing 31 of 41 passes for 422 yards and four touchdowns — the second straight year he was named Super Bowl MVP. Mahomes threw touchdown passes to Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Travis Kelce as well as two to Tyreek Hill — including one for 63 yards.
The effort was just enough to hold off Tom Brady, who completed 30 of 44 passes for 322 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Brady threw touchdowns to Chris Godwin and Mike Evans as well as a fourth-quarter pass to Rob Gronkowski to tie the game at 27.
Tampa Bay scored first in the Super Bowl sim with a Ryan Succop field goal, but the game’s first touchdown was a 5-yard pass from Mahomes to Edwards-Helaire to give Kansas City a 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter saw more action, as Brady hit Godwin for a 24-yard TD before Mahomes connected with Hill for a score. Succop made another field goal, but the Chiefs led at halftime 14-13.
