Offsides. Unnecessary roughness. Unsportsmanlike conduct. Pass interference. And holding. Lots of holding. The Kansas City Chiefs put on a textbook display of how to stop the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl on Sunday.
They did it to themselves. By halftime, the defending champs had amassed more penalties (8) than points (6) — and more frustration than hope.
It was an undisciplined, uncharacteristic and somewhat unbelievable loss of composure that set the stage for a 31-9 drubbing at the hands of Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Their 95 penalty yards in the first half were the most by any team in the first half of any of the 269 regular-season and playoff games this season.