Spokane’s closest tie to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is the late George Yarno, a Ferris and Washington State grad who played eight seasons for the Bucs.

Josh James plans to wear a Kansas City Chiefs jersey on Sunday. This wasn't a recent Super Bowl purchase. He stretched the same No. 66  over his shoulder pads three seasons ago.

John Freisz, who won the Walter Payton Award in 1989 after leading the Vandals to back-to-back Big Sky Conference titles, was a relatively obscure talent void of a big-money contract and pre-draft hubbub. In the twilight of his NFL career with the New England Patriots, Freisz gave advice to a rookie quarterback in a similar situation: Tom Brady.

In a game designed to showcase the very best of the NFL’s best, how can anyone single out just one player to be deemed the “most valuable”? Some years, a player will exceed all expectations and stand out above the rest. Some years, it’s a single moment that fans will remember for years to come. And in others still: It can be a difficult choice. Here’s a look at Super Bowl MVPs over the years.

Whether you tune in because you love pro football, because you’re a fan of one of the two teams or if you just like seeing the debut of the world’s greatest TV commercials, you’ll most likely watch the 55th annual Super Bowl Sunday. Here’s a look at the rich history of the National Football League’s big finale:

The Kansas City Chiefs play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021, in Tampa, Florida.

Though others have eclipsed him in some sections of the record book, Peyton Manning’s stamp on the NFL is very much a thing of 2021 and beyond.

It’s a laboratory befitting a six-time Super Bowl champion. Or a garage on Davis Islands, but football geniuses can work anywhere.

Breaking down the on-field matchups for Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs (16-2) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (14-5) in Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., at 3:30 p.m. PST. (TV: CBS)

Kansas City Chiefs superfan Ty Rowton hugged strangers in the streets of Miami last year after watching his team win the Super Bowl and then joined hundreds of thousands of fans back home at a victory parade, thinking little of a mysterious virus that his buddies were beginning to talk about.

Someone will make history Sunday in a Super Bowl so filled with storylines it would fill a season of TV programming.

Super Bowl LV – In some ways, this year’s big game feels pretty familiar. Quarterback Tom Brady is back for, incredibly, his 10th time. Also, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs have returned to defend their title. But in other ways, it’s startlingly different.

When the 2020 NFL season dawned in September, it did so amid a national reckoning over racial injustice and under pressure from its own star players to act. To demonstrate its commitment to bringing about change, the NFL announced as part of a broad-based social-justice initiative that its teams would stencil two slogans on their end zones all season: "End Racism" and "It Takes All Of Us."

Andy Reid came up in the West Coast offense where the quarterback performs almost like an NBA point guard, using short passes that talented playmakers can turn into long gains.

Associated Press

Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers marks the biggest day of sports broadcasting for networks.

For all Tom Brady’s success in the Super Bowl — he has an NFL-record six rings — his resume has a gaping hole: The star quarterback has yet to account for a first-quarter touchdown in the big game.

The safest option to watch the Kansas City Chiefs defend their title against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be from the well-worn grooves of your couch, health experts said Thursday. But restaurants will open their doors for the big game, following a year that has seen sales plummet during the pandemic.