Kelly green confetti flooded the Caesar’s Superdome in New Orleans last night at the Super Bowl, swallowing all 65,719 attendees. The Philadelphia Eagles blew the Kansas City Chiefs away 22-40, a comeback from their previous loss to the Chiefs in 2023 by a score of 38-35. This year, the Eagles came back prepared to stop the Chiefs from obtaining a historic Super Bowl victory. Through this incredible win, we saw incredible plays including a touchdown scored by rookie player Cooper DeJean. What made this so great? DeJean intercepted a pass from Patrick Mahomes, one of the Chief’s strongest players. Furthermore, it was Cooper’s 22nd birthday. It’s hard to imagine a better birthday than that. Similarly, Jalen Hurtz was named MVP, and rightfully so. With such a monumental win comes monumental damage to the city of Philadelphia. Watching the show last night, I could only imagine the poor lampposts out in Philly trying to stay in the ground.
Would it make sense to talk about the Super Bowl without mentioning the halftime show? The Apple Music halftime show was performed by Kendrick Lamar. Political nods were scattered throughout the stadium and the show radiated hidden message vibes. Appearances by SZA, Serena Williams, and Samuel L. Jackson had the crowd roaring. Some of Kendrick’s most popular songs were played last night: “Humble”, “All of The Stars” (ft. SZA), “TV Off”, and many more, almost everyone knew the words. Of course, it’s hard to look past the gem of the show. “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar was blasted through the stadium. With multiple nods toward the song sprinkled through the beginning of the show, it seemed that due to the potentiality of a defamation lawsuit from Drake, he was not going to play the song at all. But Kendrick delivered putting Americans nationwide in shock and excitement.
Throughout the show, we got a look at the 2025’s Super Bowl commercials. This year’s ads brought a mix of modern-day advertisements while others brought back the classic, amusing feel that Super Bowl ads are famous for. Commercials from Doritos, Baja Blast, Nike, and even ChatGPT were the talk of the internet the following day. Doritos creatively found a way to cut costs while also interacting with their customers. They hosted a competition for anyone to post their best Doritos Super Bowl ad. The winner’s commercial would be aired on live television at the Super Bowl. The winner, Dylan B. created an ad following an alien abduction theme. Doritos being known for their iconic and timeless advertisements, put themselves out there by taking a risk allowing their customers to make an ad for them, but it worked out in the end.
The Super Bowl overall was successful in terms of viewers. But how good was it? For starters, the Eagles constant scoring made the game itself fall flat. There wasn’t much action going on. A score of 24-0 at halftime almost confirmed the Eagles’ win which made the rest of the game feel less exciting. Pretty much every Chiefs fan wanted to turn the TV off at least once. When the Chiefs did score, it felt more draining than hopeful. Furthermore, while many ads brought back memories and excitement for viewers, many ads were uncomfortable or didn’t strike much thrill like last year’s Tubi ad did. The Coffee Mate tongue ad unsettled people. The disturbing imagery of tongues dancing around to disco music wasn’t a fan favorite. Neither did the Stand Up to Hate ad featuring Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady. While the message trying to be conveyed was honest and pure, the execution was poor. When creating an advertisement for something serious, putting two iconic celebrities together and insulting each other takes attention away from the message and more toward the figures.
In addition, Kanye West’s controversial ad did not land as intended. West filmed his video on his iPhone and showed off his new grills while directing people to Yeezy.com. Upon arriving at the website you were met with a t-shirt depicting anti-Semitic imagery. It certainly didn’t help with his already ruined reputation. While aspects of the game weren’t great, many were. We saw an electric halftime show that had a deeper meaning than what was on the surface. Similarly, we saw electric plays from the Eagles that had fans screaming nationwide.
Overall, the Super Bowl scored mixed opinions from fans. For me, I thought the 59th Super Bowl was fantastic. I saw more pros than cons in the game. Maybe it’s just because I was rooting for the Eagles.
