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Mitchell Schwartz is a Super Bowl champion!
Through a season of phenomenal blocking—but particularly during the playoffs—Schwartz has led the Kansas City Chiefs to a victory in Super Bowl LIV over the San Francisco 49ers.
Before the game, Schwartz wrote a heartfelt account of his journey here in the Players’ Tribune:
And when you find yourself with an opportunity like this — to compete for a championship — I think it’s only natural to reflect and to appreciate the journey a little. Because it’s been a pretty crazy ride this year. I mean, we came into the season with all these expectations and started off 4–0, then lost a couple of games, and then Pat gets hurt in the Denver game and the whole season is in question.
Some California Golden Bears were (inexplicably) Natalie Imbruglia–levels of torn as they value their beloved Bears as much as they value something as silly as “hey I was born/live around there.” But the Niners are laden with Stanford Cardinal not only on the field (Solomon Thomas, Levine Toilolo, and Richard Sherman) and in the men leading the office (GM John Lynch). They also have more non-Cal Pac-12 players than the Chiefs, so it was a pretty easy decision to root for Schwartz over them, to me.
This Super Bowl—which was the 19th of the past 20 to feature California—means six of the past seven Super Bowls resulted in a ring for at least one Golden Bear.
Cal in the Super Bowl
| Super Bowl | Cal participants | Cal SB champions |
|---|---|---|
| Super Bowl | Cal participants | Cal SB champions |
| XXXV | New York Giants: Jeremiah Parker | =( |
| XXXVI | New England Patriots: Je'Rod Cherry | Cherry |
| XXXVII | Oakland Raiders: Langston Walker | =( |
| XXXVIII | New England Patriots: Tully Banta-Cain, Je'Rod Cherry | Banta-Cain, Cherry |
| XXXIX | New England Patriots: Tully Banta-Cain, Je'Rod Cherry | Banta-Cain, Cherry |
| XL | Pittsburgh Steelers: Chidi Iwuoma | Iwuoma |
| XLI | Indianapolis Colts: Matt Giordano | Chicago Bears: DC Ron Rivera | Giordano |
| XLII | New England Patriots: Ryan O'Callaghan | =( |
| XLIII | Arizona Cardinals: JJ Arrington | =( |
| XLIV | New Orleans Saints: Scott Fujita | Fujita |
| XLV | Green Bay Packers: Desmond Bishop, Aaron Rodgers | Bishop, Rodgers |
| XLVI | New England Patriots: Shane Vereen | =( |
| XLVII | Harbowl =( | =( |
| XLVIII | Denver Broncos: CJ Anderson | Seattle Seahawks: Marshawn Lynch | Lynch |
| XLIX | New England Patriots: Shane Vereen | Seattle Seahawks: Marshawn Lynch | Vereen |
| 50 | Carolina Panthers: HC Ron Rivera, asst. coach Richard Rodgers | Denver Broncos: CJ Anderson | Anderson |
| LI | Atlanta Falcons: Alex Mack | So =( |
| LII | Philadelphia Eagles: Mychal Kendricks, Bryce Treggs | Kendricks, Treggs |
| LIII | Los Angeles Rams: Jared Goff, C.J. Anderson | New England Patriots: Stephen Anderson, Brian Schwenke | S. Anderson, Schwenke |
| LIV | Kansas City Chiefs: Mitchell Schwartz | Schwartz |
In the NFL, Schwartz iron-man-ed his way through 7,894 consecutive snaps in a streak that ended in November 2019 and inspiring many as a prominent Jewish figure in football.
Schwartz was a fixture in Strawberry Canyon from 2007 (which he redshirted) to 2011. He started every single one of the 51 games during his four years of eligibility and earned all kinds of honors, including all-conference and academic all-conference selections and the Brick Muller Award (earned by California’s Most Valuable Offensive Lineman) for three seasons. He was selected in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft with the 37th-overall pick.
Congratulations to Mitchell and go Bears!