WS Chronicle

All season the Kansas City Chiefs were on a quest to become the first team in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in a row. Unfortunately for them, the Philadelphia Eagles did not get the memo and ruined the Chiefs storybook ending in blowout fashion.   

The Eagles defeated the Chiefs by the score of 40-22 and it wasn’t that close, honestly. From the opening quarter, you could tell the Eagles were on a mission to not allow the Chiefs to make history against them. The Eagles also avenged their Super Bowl loss from two years ago with the win. 

The Eagles won the game with defense. They held the Kansas City offense to just a meager 23 yards in the first half and led 24-0 heading into halftime. The defense forced three turnovers and held Mahomes’ and the Chiefs’ offense to only 275 total yards in the game. The Eagles actually built a 40-6 lead before Mahomes threw a couple of late touchdowns to make the score respectable. 

“This is the ultimate team game. You can’t be great without the greatness of others. Great performance by everybody – offense, defense, special teams,” said Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. “We didn’t really ever care what anyone thought about how we won, or their opinions. All we want to do is win.” 

I don’t think I have ever witnessed a defense totally dominate a Patrick Mahomes-led offense like the Eagles did during the Super Bowl. The Chiefs couldn’t run the ball and when they attempted to pass, Mahomes was under duress more often than not. Before you could blink, the Eagles were already leading by three scores, and the defense is to thank. 

“Defense wins championships,” said Eagles head coach Jalen Hurts. “We saw how they played today. We saw the difference they made in the game. They gave us opportunities, gave us short fields. And we’re able to do what we do.” 

For the first time in a long time, I can actually say I felt Andy Reid was outcoached by Sirianni, which I didn’t think would happen. Traditionally, when Reid has bye weeks to plan for their next opponent, he fares very well. In the Super Bowl, the Chiefs looked shellshocked on offense and defense and it was a total surprise because Reid is such a genius when it comes to game planning and execution. 

“Today was a rough day all around. Nothing went right. I didn’t coach well. Proud of our guys for fighting. We will learn from this,” said Reid. “Too many turnovers, too many penalties. Against a good football team, can’t do that.” 

I’d like to poll some Eagle fans right about now. Just four short months ago, fans were clamoring for Sirianni to be fired. The team wasn’t playing very well at the time and there were serious rumors being spread around the morning sports talk shows that Sirianni was on the hot seat. 

Sirianni changed all of that with a Super Bowl title. I would bet there are little to no fans calling for him to be fired now. The Eagles ran through the playoffs as if they were on a mission and they accomplished it. I didn’t think Sirianni could pull it off, but I guess he proved everyone wrong with this victory. 

This defeat reminded me of how the Tom Brady led Tampa Bay Buccaneers dominated the Chiefs in Super Bowl 55, beating them by the score of 31-9. The Eagles seemingly copied the Bucs game plan and held Mahomes and the Chiefs offense under wraps all game long. Mahomes threw two interceptions in the game and appeared to have happy feet in the pocket. 

“There’s things I still need to get better at, and they showed tonight on the biggest stage,” said Mahomes. “I can’t be out there making bad plays worse. Sometimes I get to where I want to make a big play to spark us. Tonight, they were going to make me be a fundamental quarterback, stay in the pocket and take what was there, and I still have to get better at that.” 

Hurts got his Super Bowl title before names like Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and Josh Allen. To put the icing on top, he was named Super Bowl MVP. I am no fan of the Eagles, but I am happy for Hurts after everything he has had to endure throughout his career. 

For a guy who was benched in college at Alabama and then had to transfer to Oklahoma, failed short of championship with the Sooners and gets drafted in the second round as a “project” quarterback, people didn’t think he was good enough to lead the franchise to a title, but he persevered and won.  

Congratulations to Hurts for beating the odds.