Fun facts about the Super Bowl to impress your friends and look like a genius

The Super Bowl matchup is set. The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will duke it out in Super Bowl 58, putting to rest any chatter about that darned logo conspiracy theory, and pitting two of the most high-profile teams in the NFL against each other with a championship at stake.

The 49ers advanced after a season in which they were the NFC’s best team, while the Chiefs — under the white-hot glare of Travis Kelce’s romance with Taylor Swift — were not the offensive juggernaut of past seasons, instead relying on an elite defense and the guile of quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs.

The game will be played Feb. 11, and while a large chunk of the attention over the next two weeks is no doubt bound to focus on Kelce and Swift, there are other storylines to keep an eye on. So, if you’re going to a Super Bowl party and want to wow the other people on hand, here are some fun facts.

Vegas, baby!

This will mark the first time the Super Bowl will be played in Las Vegas. The game will be played at Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders. And if you’re more into the sideshow hoopla, rejoice: Reba McEntire will sing the national anthem and Usher will headline the halftime show.

Twice is nice

The Chiefs and 49ers will meet for the second time in the Super Bowl. The Chiefs won the first time, 31-20, in Super Bowl 54 in 2020, giving Mahomes, Kelce and head coach Andy Reid their first title. There have been seven other repeat matchups in the Super Bowl.

• The Washington franchise and Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl 7 and Super Bowl 17.

• The New York Giants and New England Patriots in Super Bowl 42 and Super Bowl 46.

• The Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots in Super Bowl 39 and Super Bowl 52.

• The San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl 16 and Super Bowl 23.

• The New England Patriots and St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 36 and Super Bowl 53.

• The Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys have played three times, in Super Bowl 10, Super Bowl 13 and Super Bowl 30.

• The Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills played in Super Bowl 27 and Super Bowl 28. It was the only rematch in consecutive years in Super Bowl history.

Eight is great

The 49ers are in the Super Bowl for the eighth time. The New England Patriots lead all franchises with 11 appearances. The Patriots, along with the Pittsburgh Steelers, also lead all teams with six Super Bowl titles. The 49ers are not far behind, with five Super Bowl victories, but they have lost the last two times they’ve played in the game.

Back to back

The Chiefs, in the Super Bowl for the sixth team in franchise history, are looking to become the first team to win consecutive Super Bowls since the Patriots in 2004 and 2005.

Winning back-to-back Super Bowl titles is hard. It’s only happened eight times in history and three of those times were within the first 10 years of the game’s existence.

Four equals five

The Chiefs are only the third team to make four Super Bowls in a five-year span, joining the Bills, who went four straight years between 1991 and 1994, and the Patriots from 2015 to 2019.

Seeing Reid

Andy Reid long ago cemented his status as one of the NFL’s all-time best coaches. He will be coaching in his fifth Super Bowl, tying him with former Dallas Cowboys head coach Tom Landry for third-most all time.

Former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick tops all coaches with nine appearances, while Don Shula has six, with the Baltimore Colts and the Dolphins.

Reid has won a pair of Super Bowls. Belichick (6), Chuck Noll (4), Bill Walsh (3) and Joe Gibbs (3) have won more. Noll, Walsh and Gibbs are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Reid and Belichick will undoubtedly join them down the line.

A chip off the old block

Reid’s counterpart on the San Francisco sideline, Kyle Shanahan, may have winning a Super Bowl in his blood. His father, Mike Shanahan, was the head coach when the Denver Broncos won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1998 and 1999.

Mahomes, ma-goodness

Mahomes, 28, will become just the eighth quarterback to start four Super Bowls. The list he’ll be joining is impressive: Roger Staubach, Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, Jim Kelly, John Elway and Peyton Manning.

He’s Purdy, Purdy, Purdy good

As expected as it may be for Mahomes to have wound up in the Super Bowl, that’s how unlikely it is for 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. He was the 262nd and final selection in the 2022 NFL draft, earning him the nickname given each year to the player chosen with the last pick: Mr. Irrelevant.

Purdy has proven to be very relevant, though. He started the 2022 season as the third-string quarterback before injuries elevated him to starter, a job he would not relinquish. Last year, he took the 49ers to the NFC championship game, where they lost to the Eagles after he was knocked out for part of the game with an injury.

Unlucky 13

Everyone knows Taylor Swift’s lucky number is 13, but that just so happens to be the jersey number Purdy wears.

Swift aside, 13, of course, is notorious for being unlucky, and there may be some truth to that in the Super Bowl. There’s only been one quarterback to wear that number to start and win a Super Bowl: Kurt Warner for the St. Louis Rams in 2000.

The numbers favor Mahomes and his No. 15. He joins Bart Starr (Super Bowls 1 and 2), Earl Morrall (Super Bowl 5) and Jeff Hostetler (Super Bowl 25) as quarterbacks who’ve started and won a Super Bowl wearing No. 15, per NBC Sports Philadelphia.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com