Despite COVID-19 playing a factor in how Super Bowl 55 plays out, some people aren’t letting it get in the way of watching the big game with others. According to 1080AM The Fan, ESPN Portland, 33% of people are planning to attend a Super Bowl party. Something each person interviewed agreed on was how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would come away with the win over the Kansas City Chiefs and that it could be a close game.

Seattle Seahawks fan and Yakima resident Justin Surginer said it will be the same small group that gets together for Seahawks games every weekend. He said they will gather at a buddy’s house. However, there is one change to his Super Bowl plans.

“Usually we’re in Vegas every year so this is a little different,” Surginer said.

Surginer said he thinks it will be a great game with the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, who he thinks is an unbelievable team. He said Travis Kelce is great, as well as Patrick Mahomes who he said is already on that path and destined to be great. But Surginer said they’re going against Tom Brady who he called the GOAT, meaning Greatest Of All Time. 

With Brady, Surginer said everybody loves to hate him but the numbers, his stat line and his ten Super Bowl appearances can’t be denied. 

Surginer said he hated to bet against Brady and thought it’d be a close game with Tampa Bay squeaking out a 31-28 victory. Surginer thinks it will come down to offense because he doesn’t know if the Buccaneers defense will be able to stop Mahomes in a couple situations. 

Others also commented on Tom Brady and all he’s accomplished including Brett Martinez from Vancouver, WA. Martinez and his family are planning to gather at their house to watch the big game. Like Surginer, Martinez also thinks it will be a close game and said despite being a Patriots fan, he was rooting for the Buccaneers.

Billy Back, head coach for the Spokane Shock of the Indoor Football League (IFL) will watch the Super Bowl with his family. They decided to find a restaurant either in Spokane or Idaho where they could hopefully find a sense of normalcy. While his favorite team, the Green Bay Packers, didn’t make it, he still had thoughts on the game.

Back said he thinks it will be a good game because it will have two of the best quarterbacks in the league, and like Surginer, calling Brady the GOAT. He said he didn’t have a score prediction because he thinks it could be either a high scoring or a low scoring game.

“The Buccaneers defense has been carrying them throughout the playoffs, they pretty much got lucky playing against the Packers,” Back said. “Aaron Rodgers couldn’t produce after three straight stops which is pretty disappointing, but just knowing Tom Brady’s back and he’s going to be prepared.”

Coke and Budweiser announced the last week of January that each company would not run commercials and instead focus on COVID-19 relief. When it comes to the commercials that will run, Back hopes they won’t focus on COVID-19, but rather focus on finding a sense of normalcy.  Martinez on the other hand was a bit more skeptical when it comes to this year’s commercials not having a sure thought on how they’d be.

“I heard that there are actually going to be Clydesdales, but it’s not going to be under Budweiser’s name,” Martinez said. “Budweiser doesn’t have any ads, but Anheuser-Busch who owns Budweiser does and I think they’re advertising Guinness and they’re using the Clydesdales.”

A notable piece of information regarding this year’s Super Bowl is it will be the first time a team that has hosted the Super Bowl also plays in the big game. However, Buccaneers fans won’t hear the celebratory cannons after each touchdown like they would for a normal home game. This is due to the fact that the NFL wants to keep it as much of a neutral site game as possible.

Each person agreed that the Chiefs are a legitimate contender and could be right back in the hunt come next season. Between that and agreeing how great Brady is, we’ll just have to see what happens next season.