Chiefs, 49ers returning to Super Bowl; Frustration, heartbreak for Lions, Ravens

That is an article model of the CBS Sports activities HQ AM E-newsletter, the last word information to each day in sports activities. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here.

🏆 Good morning to everybody however particularly …

THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS AND THE SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS

The extra issues change, the extra they keep the identical: The Chiefs are going again to the Tremendous Bowl, they usually’re going through an opponent they met there 4 years in the past: the 49ers.

It is onerous to overstate simply how spectacular Kansas Metropolis was. The reigning champions went into Baltimore and smothered Lamar Jackson‘s offense whereas getting excellent performances from Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce in a gutsy 17-10 win over the Ravens. Kansas Metropolis is heading to its fourth Tremendous Bowl in 5 seasons.

Mahomes’ stats might not look superb, however his capability to make the best performs — typically highlight-worthy, typically odd and typically simply good — helped the guests do sufficient towards the league’s finest protection. It helps that he had Kelce (11 receptions, 116 yards, one landing and one major record broken), however within the recreation’s deciding second, he discovered Marquez Valdes-Scantling on an ideal 32-yard toss.

It was another terrific performance from Mahomes when his team needed it most, I wrote from Baltimore.

• Pereles: “It was emblematic of the Chiefs’ path this season. Valdes-Scantling dropped a similar pass towards the Eagles in November, a recreation that kicked off Kansas Metropolis dropping 4 of its subsequent six. However Mahomes shouldered the blame then and was desperate to go off the reward Sunday. … Very similar to this recreation, this has been removed from Mahomes’ finest season. However by means of these struggles, he improved his capability to handle video games — so usually a talent used to deride quarterbacks however the one which helped the Chiefs advance to the Tremendous Bowl.”

The protection, in the meantime, was completely improbable, holding the Ravens to a season-low 10 factors. Additionally improbable? Jeff Kerr’s story on the Chiefs defense and the shirts it made to honor its coordinator.

Then got here the offensive shootout in a recreation, that once more, was heavy on drama. The 49ers erased a 17-point halftime deficit — the biggest in convention championship historical past — to beat the Lions, 34-31.

After enjoying one depressing half, the 49ers performed a few of the finest soccer I’ve seen and caught some breaks alongside the way in which. Their second-half drive chart was: subject objective, landing, landing, subject objective, landing, kneel to complete recreation. Alongside the way in which, Brandon Aiyuk made one of the greatest catches you’ll ever see, Christian McCaffrey broke a record, Jahmyr Gibbs fumbled, Josh Reynolds dropped two passes and the Lions failed on two fourth downs and bungled the clock. Extra on that in a bit.

However I wish to speak about Brock Purdy. This is his second half: 13 of 16 passing for 174 yards and a rating in addition to 4 rushes for 49 yards. Sure, Purdy helped put the 49ers of their deficit. However there’s additionally a cause Kyle Shanahan had been 0-31 when down five-plus points in the fourth quarter before last week and 0-19 when down 17+ within the second half earlier than this week and now has a win in each situations. As a result of Purdy — although he might dig you some holes — may rescue you from them. What a efficiency.

Some early Tremendous Bowl content material …

👍 Honorable mentions

😔 And never such a great morning for …

THE BALTIMORE RAVENS AND THE DETROIT LIONS

Shedding hurts, however dropping actually hurts when profitable was inside your grasp. And the Ravens and Lions each had a Tremendous Bowl journey of their grasp.

Baltimore will rue a bevy of missed alternatives, obtrusive errors and an underwhelming offensive day. This is the laundry checklist of failures:

• Eight penalties for 95 yards, together with 5 private fouls
• Zay Flowers, moments after a taunting penalty, fumbling inches short of the goal line
• Jackson throwing an interception into triple protection
• Six carries for 23 yards by operating backs (and solely 16 carries for 81 yards general)
• Three turnovers (two in scoring place) and 0 turnovers pressured

It looked like one team that had been there before and one team that hadn’t, Jeff Kerr writes.

In the meantime, the Lions collapsed. Plain and easy. Two key drops by Reynolds that might have been first downs. A Gibbs fumble. An ill-conceived (and, even worse, poorly-executed) operating play late within the recreation that value the Lions an important timeout.

Oh yeah, and people two fourth-down failures that might have been two subject objectives — six factors — in a recreation the Lions misplaced by three.

However that’s who Dan Campbell is. I am not going to criticize him for adhering to his philosophy, which simply produced the most effective seasons in franchise historical past and has fully revitalized the group. He stood by his decisions postgame, and I am high quality with that. If Reynolds or Gibbs hangs onto a ball, we’re speaking concerning the NFC champion Lions. As a substitute, we’re speaking about what may have been, an all-time heartbreaking loss. And no one will take that harder than Campbell himself.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

🏀 LeBron James, Stephen Curry ship double-overtime thriller; Luka Doncic scores 73

The NBA known as it “Rivals Week” and, man, did the league ever ship — LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry was one of many biggest regular-season video games ever. James (36 factors, 20 rebounds, 12 assists) sank a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds left within the second time beyond regulation to raise the Lakers to a 145-144 win over the Warriors.

This recreation was completely bonkers: Curry (46 factors, 9 3-pointers) pressured time beyond regulation, Klay Thompson pressured double time beyond regulation, D’Angelo Russell did a bunch of absurd issues (absurdly good and absurdly unhealthy), and simply when it appeared like Golden State would snatch a victory off yet one more Curry 3-pointer, James acquired to the road and transformed. Colin Ward-Henninger broke down the 10 biggest moments, and truthfully, this checklist may have been twice as lengthy. I do not know what number of extra LeBron-vs.-Steph showdowns we’ll get, however they only carry on delivering.

One evening earlier, we acquired one other all-timer: 73 factors from Luka Doncic, fourth-most in NBA history. Devin Booker had a mere 62 in yet another night with two scoring explosions.

🎾 Jannick Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka win Australian Open singles titles

For the primary time in a decade, there is a title exterior the Large Three on the Norman Brookes Problem Cup. Jannick Sinner surprised Novak Djokovic within the semifinals after which rallied previous Daniil Medvedev, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, to win the Australian Open for his first Grand Slam title.

• Sinner, 22, can be the primary Italian man to win the Australian Open title and the primary Italian man to win any main since Adriano Panatta in 1976.
• He is the primary participant exterior of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer to win the Australian Open since Stan Wawrinka in 2014.

What a closing it was. Medvedev cruised by means of two units, however Sinner fought again, profitable the third and fourth units and taking management with an enormous forehand winner within the fifth to go up a break. The match-winner, fittingly, was an enormous forehand, too.

On the ladies’s facet, Aryna Sabalenka shut down any likelihood of a brand new champion, rolling previous Qinwen Zheng, 6-3, 6-2, for her second consecutive Australian Open title. Sabalenka didn’t lose a set all event and was completely dominant towards Zheng, profitable eight of the primary 9 factors to set the tone.

Sabalenka, 25, is the primary girl to repeat on the Australian Open since Victoria Azarenka in 2012-13, and she or he already has her eyes on a three-peat, telling the gang, “I like you a lot, and I am unable to wait to return again,” after the victory.

📺 What we’re watching Monday

🏀 No. 12 Duke at Virginia Tech (M), 7 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 No. 9 LSU at Mississippi State (W), 9 p.m. on ESPN2
🏀 Suns at Warmth, 7:30 p.m. on NBA TV
🏀 No. 4 Houston at Texas (M), 9 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 76ers at Path Blazers, 10 p.m. on NBA TV