After an exciting season of helmet-crushing football, we finally know who’s going to play in one of sports’ top events in North America. The Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs will face off in the Super Bowl on Feb. 9 in New Orleans.
The best players in the NFL do not always make it to the Super Bowl. You can ask Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals, who led the league with 4,918 passing yards. Or Jared Goff from the Detroit Lions, who threw for 39 touchdowns, the most in the league. Or even Lamar Jackson from the Baltimore Ravens, who had an impressive 119.6 passer rating, demonstrating exceptional efficiency.
The Baltimore Ravens had the best offense, with a league-leading average of 424.9 yards per game, while the Lions had the highest-scoring offense, averaging 35.3 points per game. On the other hand, the San Francisco 49ers posted a league-best defense, allowing only 276.4 yards per game. Yet they didn’t make it to the Super Bowl, either. The Buffalo Bills just narrowly lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. Buffalo had the stingiest defense, giving up just 19.6 points per game. But they were beaten by the Chiefs, who lead the AFC with a 15-2 record.
Just as in football, supply chain is a team sport. Individual stars do not make the best supply chains, which are truly collaborative in nature. Only the best teams have the most efficient supply chains. The Super Bowl is an incredible sporting event requiring incredible planning and coordination. But it is also a logistical feat of epic proportions. Here are some behind-the-scenes facts that show the sheer scale of operations needed to pull off a Super Bowl.