Super Bowl LIV: What To Expect When The Chiefs And 49ers Square Off

The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs are facing off tonight in Super Bowl LIV.

The Chiefs, led by 24-year-old quarterback Patrick Mahomes, enter the game as an offensive juggernaut. In the 49ers, they'll be facing one of the NFL's most dominant defensive teams over the past season.

For the Chiefs, tonight's game will mark their third trip to the Super Bowl. Their only championship came half a century ago, when they beat the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. The team's then-owner, Lamar Hunt, is credited with coming up with the name "Super Bowl," after watching one of his children play with a new toy ball.

"I think it probably came because my children had been given a small, rubber ball that was called a 'super ball.' And it was very much like a golf ball, except it was rubber," Hunt said in an interview in 1998. "And you could bounce it on concrete, and it would bounce over a house."

One of those children bouncing the super ball, Clark Hunt, is now chairman and CEO of the team.

The 49ers will also enter the game with a father-son storyline of sorts. The team's head coach, Kyle Shanahan, is the son of Mike Shanahan, who was head coach of the Super Bowl winning Denver Broncos in 1998 and 1999. If the 49ers win tonight, the Shanahans would be the first father-son pair to be head coaches of Super Bowl champion teams.

San Francisco, behind the play of 28-year-old quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, are appearing in their seventh Super Bowl, having won the game five times. But it's their first trip back to the championship since 2013, when their quarterback was Colin Kaepernick.

It's estimated that around 100 million people will tune in to watch the game, the ads and the halftime show.

Last year, Super Bowl viewership was down, around 98.2 million viewers. It was the game's smallest audience since 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Many have attributed the decrease in audience to the low scoring game between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams.

As in past years, the commercials are expected to be a big draw for fans and more casual viewers alike. Advertising for the big game sold out before the end of November, the LA Times reported. The average cost of a 30-second ad was $5.6 million, a record high, according to Forbes.

Ad demand was so high this year that Fox added 2.5 minutes of commercial time to the game, according to the LA Times.

Political ads will be part of the commercial line up, with both Michael Bloomberg's presidential campaign and President Trump's reelection campaign running 60-second ads that are estimated to have cost roughly $10 million each, according to The New York Times.

Pop star Demi Lovato is set to sing the national anthem before the game. Shakira and Jennifer Lopez are headlining this year's halftime show.

For the first time in Super Bowl history, the primary uniform color for both teams playing is red. So to avoid confusion, the Chiefs will wear their red jerseys and the 49ers will wear their white away jerseys.

How to watch

Kick off is at 6:30 p.m. ET at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. The game will be aired on Fox and Fox Deportes and available to stream various platforms like NFL.com, Sling, Fubo, Fox Sports and Fox Now.

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