I don’t know about you guys, but thanks to the Coronavirus and being stuck at home, I needed this more than ever. If nothing else I hope this was a welcome distraction for you. Thank you again everyone for taking time to vote on these silly things. I really do look forward to this every single year and hope you do as well. Enough with the my blabbering, let’s get to the good stuff!

Our Championship Round came down to a 1 seed and a 2 seed I think most had picked to win the whole thing. Like I said, every time I looked at the bracket I honestly couldn’t see the participants in the championship game breaking any other way.  Time to find out how the Championship Round fared. Remember all “scores” are in percentages.

This year’s bracket, while ending up with the match-up I believed it would, still had many surprises in store for us. The Miscellaneous Region for one was a total free for all. I was introduced to the Midwest’s not-so-secret butter burger and custard joint Culver’s when the 15 seed took out a very strong 2 seed Chipotle in the 1st Round. 6 seed Sonic won the whole damn region taking out Dark Horse to win the whole thing 4 seed Taco Bell in the Regional Final. The Sandwich Region saw 8 seed Schlotzsky’s make it all the way to the Elite 8 and almost the Final Four taking out giant 1 seed Subway and my personal favorite 4 seed McAlister’s Deli along the way.

Despite a few upsets here and there, this year’s bracket saw the favorite move on more often than in previous years. The Final Four consisted of a 1 seed in Chick-fil-A, 2 seed Whataburger, 3 seed Jason’s Deli, and a 6 seed in Sonic. All worthy, all delicious in their own rights. I also believe this is the first year that we have run though an entire bracket without having any team catch the ever elusive 100-0 final score.

Championship

We’ll start with our 1 seed Chick-fil-A. They started a run to the ‘ship with a 93-7 win over 16 seed Pollo Campero in the Round of 64. This was a tie for the largest margin of victory in the entire tournament. The Round of 32 saw the Chickin Champs knock out 9 seed Buffalo Wild Wings 84-16. In the Sweet 16 the 1 seed demolished what I thought was a con-(chicken)-tender in the region 4 seed Raising Cane’s by a final of 82-18. The Regional Final saw the blowouts continue with my pick, 2 seed Popeys, falling to the chicken sandwich giant 77-23 in the Elite 8. The right side of the bracket was decided on a 1 seed vs 6 seed matchup as the Chicken Region winner came out victorious over Miscellaneous Region winner Sonic by a final of 75-25 in the Final Four. This was the closest game Chick-fil-A saw the entire way to the Championship game.

2 seed Whataburger had a remarkably similar run on the left side of the bracket. They began with the other 93-7 victory in the tournament over 15 seed Hardees. In the Round of 32 they had no issue dispatching 10 seed Smashburger 86-14. I had Smashburger yesterday and all I can say is y’all made the right decision here. The Sweet 16 saw our 2 seed beat down 6 seed 5 Guys by a final of 85-15. Halfway through the bracket and they had yet to be tested at all. I thought it would come in the Regional Final but Whataburger came out hot and obliterated the biggest burger joint in the world, routing 1 seed McDonald’s 90-10 in the Elite 8. Oddly enough the left side of the bracket was decided by the exact score as the right side as the Burger Region champ was triumphant over Sandwich Region winner (and my hometown favorite) Jason’s Deli by a final of 75-25 in the Final Four. This was also the closest game Whataburger saw the entire way to the Championship game.

I checked in on the Championship Round a few times over the course of the last 4 days and this was one of the best Finals our bracket has ever seen. Every time I checked in the score was either tied or one of the teams had taken a slight advantage. I never saw either team even get to as much as a 60-40 lead. By the end of the match-up Whataburger found their swagger and finished strong with a 58-42 victory in one for the books! If this was a ‘how fast do you get your food’ challenge, Chick-fil-A takes it in a landslide. If you are looking for a wide variety of food to choose from it’s a no-brainer, Whataburger wins easy. I think it came down to the Honey Butter Chicken Biscuits and the shakes…except the Dr Pepper shake, that thing is straight garbage somehow.

Whataburger joins our former champions The Beatles, The Sandlot, Breakfast Tacos & Burritos and The Fresh Price of Bel-Air.

Thank you all once again for taking time to vote in this tournament. I hope this thing was as fun for you as it was for me. We’ll do it again next March! And hopefully at the same time as the basketball tournament and not all trapped in our homes!!! As usual, I’ve got some ideas floating around in the old noggin for themes but I’m always looking for ideas for next year’s bracket. If you have any suggestions, feel free to get in touch with me on Facebook or Twitter.

After knocking 64 of the finest Fast Food joint down to a final Champion, our completed bracket looks like this: