The light poles are greased, the beers are flowing and the Philadelphia Eagles are officially the Super Bowl LIX Champions after a 40-22 demolition of the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City was in search of history looking to become the first franchise to ever win three Super Bowls in a row, but their season became history after one of the greatest defensive halves of football we’ve ever seen out of an NFL unit.
The game started the way everyone feared. The Eagles converted on an early fourth-down, but it was called back due to a very questionable pass-interference call in favor of the Chiefs. Super Bowl parties around the world asking, “The refs are doing it again, aren’t they?” The penalty would lead to an Eagles punt and set up Patrick Mahomes and his offense for their first drive of the game. On the first play, Mahomes found Juju Smith-Schuster for 11 yards and a first down. It would be the final first down the Eagles defense would allow in the first half.
The Eagles defense put on a clinic, playing the equivalent of a perfect first half. The Chiefs seven first half possessions finished in this order: punt, punt, punt, pick-six, punt, interception, punt. The Eagles front four tallied six sacks of Patrick Mahomes, but was most astonishing was they did it with virtually no added pressure. The Eagles were getting to Mahomes with only their front four defensive lineman, which was allowing their secondary to virtually eliminate the Chiefs receivers from the game. Mahomes had no time to survey the field, get into any sort of rhythm, and it showed with Mahomes two very uncharacteristic interceptions. After back-to-back sacks, Mahomes threw a pass that was undercut perfectly by rookie Cooper DeJean who took it back for six. Absolutely stunned, KC would turn it over yet again on Mahomes very next pass (Chiefs went 3 & out with two runs and a sack in between the pick-six and his next INT) and everyone started to wonder if the Chiefs were getting too far behind to make one of their signature comebacks.
During the halftime show (which everyone seemed to hate) I was getting texts saying, “I don’t want to jinx it because it is the Chiefs”, but deep down I think everyone knew this game was over. The Eagles defense was simply getting to Patrick Mahomes any time they wanted and, again, they were only doing it with four pass-rushers. The Chiefs would have needed every break under the stars to even think of making a comeback. Turns out their many, many lucky breaks throughout the season had dried up and it was the Eagles turn to have a few things go their way.
On the offensive side of the ball, Jalen Hurts was magnificent. For as organized as the Eagles defense was, the Chiefs defense was easily as our of sorts, getting torched by AJ Brown and Devonta Smith on a regular basis and allowing Hurts to average almost 7 yards a carry. Hurts, the Eagles leading rusher, looked as comfortable as ever in the pocket, and when things would break down, he would break out and pick up the first down. Hurts was named the games MVP, throwing for 221 yards with two TD’s and running for 72 yards.
If you had simply looked at the box score and saw that Mahomes threw for 357 with three TD’s and that Saquon Barkley was held to 57 yards, you would probably think the Chiefs won this game. But the Chiefs numbers came in garbage time, the Eagles dominated when it mattered.
The Eagles have now won their second Super Bowl, the last coming over now commentator Tom Brady five years ago. The Chiefs and Andy Reid now go back to the drawing board to try and recreate their success from the last three seasons. There are now more questions than answers surrounding Kansas City, like will Travis Kelce retire? Will Andy Reid come back to coach again? Do the Chiefs address the wide receiver role once again? For the Eagles, the only question they have is what time does the parade start. Congratulations Eagles fans, the King is dead!
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