This past Sunday, Americans tuned in to watch the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles in the biggest sporting event of the year. Fox reported a whopping 113 million viewers for this year’s super bowl whether it was for the commercials or the game itself. Many viewers flocked to TV screens to watch Rihanna, who garnered an impressive 118 million viewers, perform for the first time in years.
The majority of the game was entertaining. It was a shootout, with both teams showing off their high powered offenses as they traded scores. The Eagles held the lead for most of the game, until The Chiefs scored on every drive in the second half to position themselves for a comeback win. The Eagles’ Jalen Hurts recorded a record-tying 3 rushing touchdowns as he fought to keep his team ahead, but Chiefs’ defense proved to be crucial. After a fumble recovery led to a touchdown in the first half, the Chiefs found that momentum again when they stopped the Eagles on a handful of drives during the second half, which allowed the Chiefs to comeback on the Eagles late in the game.
The ultimate decider of Super Bowl 57 occurred during the last two minutes of the game. In the most anticlimactic ending possible, the result of the game was decided by the refs. Throughout most of the game there had been very few calls on either side. That is why fans were furious when a defensive holding call made against the Eagles guaranteed a Chiefs win. The Eagles were afforded one opportunity to answer with a score from their own half of the field, which failed as Hurts threw an incomplete pass.
“Super Bowl” began trending on twitter as fans voiced their compliments and complaints regarding the game. Many spectators had harsh criticisms regarding the field conditions during the game. Multiple times players slipped on the new field that had been prepared specifically for the special day. Fans also voiced their criticisms of the game’s anticlimactic ending, with many calling the game rigged and referencing the NFL’s rumored script.
More than the Super Bowl itself, Rihanna was the main headline of February 12th. Her show was very well received. The performance had a massive impact by reaching more viewers than the Super Bowl game itself. She became the most streamed artist globally, gained three million followers on instagram, and her Fenty sales increased by 833%. She began trending on social media with fans around the world singing praise for her halftime performance, along with ASL interpreter Justina Miles after her performance went viral as well. People also speculated about her second child after noticing numerous hints during her performance, and these suspicions were confirmed by her representative shortly after the game.
This year’s commercials got mixed reviews. A 30-second ad in this year’s Super Bowl costs 7 million dollars. Tubi took an interesting approach to their ads to ensure that they grabbed viewers’ attention. The most notable left every household scrambling for the remote as Tubi tricked homes into believing that someone had changed the channel. This commercial led to many viral moments on social media, and was a highlight from this year’s advertisements. Another memorable ad came from Popcorners who brought together Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul as Walter and Jesse from AMC’s hit show Breaking Bad. Other ads came from Super Bowl regulars such as Doritos, Amazon, and Bud Light.
