In a Super Bowl featuring two of the most explosive offenses throughout the league, it was a setting up to be a matchup for the ages. Sure enough, the contest between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs did not disappoint.
Prior to the big game both teams had various players listed on the inactive report. The Eagles were without DE Derek Barnett, LB Shaun Bradley, TE Tyree Jackson, DE Janarius Robinson, and DT Marlon Tuipulotu. In comparison to their opponent, the Chiefs mostly had a healthy roster with the exceptions being WR Mecole Hardman, WR Justyn Ross, and DT Tershawn Wharton.
From the opening half of this game, it seemed inevitable for the Eagles to fly and to fly high at that. The city of brotherly love had jumped out of the gate with a touchdown within the first five minutes stemming from a QB Sneak by Jalen Hurts. In response to such a fascinating drive, the Chiefs went on to score a TD of their own with Patrick Mahomes finding TE Travis Kelce for 18 yards, within three minutes of action. After scoring on the opening drives, it was not until the beginning of the second quarter that either team scored a touchdown. In a spectacular fashion, Hurts had come up with a massive 45-yard TD for the Eagles as he found his receiver A.J. Brown. The Chiefs found themselves once again playing from behind and tried coming up with a drive of their own but ultimately fell short and were forced to punt. Fortunately enough for Arrowhead, they were able to force a fumble with LB Nick Bolton running for a 36-yard TD to tie it all up at 14 a piece. Following up a disappointing drive for the Eagles, they came up with another rushing touchdown from Hurts to regain the lead (21-14). With another defensive stop for the Eagles, they found themselves with a perfect opportunity to extend their lead before heading into the half. On a short-lived 40-yard drive, the Eagles would go on to extend their lead to 24-14 heading into the third quarter.
After a stellar halftime performance by Rihanna, the center of attention went back onto the field. With the Chiefs beginning the new half with possession of the ball, they wasted no time moving it up the field. After reaggravating his ankle, Mahomes was responsible for throwing for 40-yards on the 75-yard drive with RB Isiah Pacheco concluding it with a rushing touchdown to close the gap (24-21). The Chiefs continued on playing their relentless defense forcing the Eagles to yet another made field goal on their drive (27-21). Subsequently, the Chiefs offense were able to string up another impressive drive with Mahomes throwing for 40-yards and finding receiver Kadarius Toney for the touchdown, allowing them to take their first lead of the night (28-27). With the Eagles’ backs against the wall they were forced to a quick three and out on a drive that they desperately needed to regain the momentum. However, with every miniscule mistake on the largest stage it’s magnified as the Chiefs would go on to take advantage of the opportunity presented to them, as Toney had returned the punt for 65-yards (greatest return in Super Bowl history) with Mahomes capping it off with a 4-yard TD to receiver Skyy Moore. On what became the Eagles final drive of the night, Hurts would tie up the game on his own accord (35-35) with another rushing TD and a two point conversion. The drama then occurred on the Chiefs game winning drive as a “controversial” flag was thrown on the field after a holding call was made against Eagles’ cornerback James Bradberry which ultimately cost them the game as it gave them a fresh set of downs. After using their fresh set of downs to waste the clock, the Chiefs relied on their kicker Harrison Butker to seal the deal to take home the Lombardi trophy.
For a debut Super Bowl appearance, quarterback Jalen Hurts had an impressive outing as he had thrown for a total of 304-yards (27/38), and 1 TD while rushing for 70-yards and 3 TD’s. The Eagles’ receiving core had a spectacular outing as the trio between DeVonta Smith (100-yards), A.J. Brown (96-yards) and 1 TD, and TE Dallas Goedert (60-yards) were responsible for 256-yards. The rush game for the Eagles other than Hurts was relatively quiet as the second leading rusher was Kenneth Gainwell with 21-yards followed by Miles Sanders with 16-yards.
As for the two time Super Bowl champion, Patrick Mahomes, he was responsible for 182-yards (21/27), and 3 TD’s while rushing for 44-yards on a hobbled ankle. The yardage for the Chiefs receiving core was heavily distributed between TE Travis Kelce (81-yards) 1 TD, and JuJu Smith-Schuster with 53-yards. In comparison to their opposition, Isiah Pacheco had a massive game as he rushed for a total of 71-yards and 1 TD followed by Jerick McKinnon with 34-yards of his own.
With Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs winning their second Lombardi trophy in the past six seasons, Mahomes now joins elite company. Mahomes joins both Tom Brady and Joe Montana as the only quarterbacks with multiple league and Super Bowl MVP’s. Additionally, Mahomes also has broken the “curse” in which the league MVP fails to win the Super Bowl during that same year: this “curse” dates back to 2001 where Kurt Warner lost to the Patriots, since then eight other quarterbacks faced the same impending fate.
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