The Chiefs’ trick play from Super Bowl 54 has some awesome history

Remember that synchronized spin the Kansas City Chiefs pulled off before a direct snap to Damien Williams delivered a crucial first down on 4th-and-1 in the first quarter of their eventual Super Bowl 54 win over the San Francisco 49ers?

It was so cool and kind of hilarious when set to music.

But the play call — aside from the spin — was a throwback. It came from the 1948 Rose Bowl.

Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy said he watched the play call from Michigan vs. USC in the 1949 Rose Bowl (it turned out to be 1948, as folks figured out) and decided to put it in the playbook. There wasn’t a spin, but the pre-snap motion and direct snap are in there:

Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy on spin move trick play to convert 4th down vs. 49ers pic.twitter.com/wpOxC1DJMV

— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) February 3, 2020

Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy says he got this play design from watching this old Rose Bowl game. Michigan ran it over & over in a 49-0 win over USC pic.twitter.com/0uGYxxUnST

— Kevin Boilard (@247KevinBoilard) February 3, 2020

1948 Michigan vs. 2020 Chiefs pic.twitter.com/FW0zW3mkZV

— Brandon Koretz (@BrandonKoretz) February 3, 2020

Just so awesome.