The Philadelphia Eagles rewrote the script after crushing the Kansas City Chiefs, becoming Super Bowl LIX champions. All anyone could talk about was how dominating the Eagles’ defense was by denying Patrick Mahomes from making anything happen.
The Chiefs won the coin toss and elected to give Philadelphia the ball to kick things off. Both teams exchanged three-and-outs on their first drives. However, it did not take long for the Jalen Hurts-led offense to take the lead as he threw a 27-yard dot to Jahan Dotson and used the tush push at the one. Mahomes continued to struggle on his second go and failed to reach the first down marker, forcing a punt. After Hurts managed to move the chains three times, the defense pressured him. This caused the 26-year-old to throw an interception to Bryan Cook after attempting to reach AJ Brown. This gave the ball back to the Chiefs on their two-yard line to start the second quarter.
The Eagles’ defense held up once again after a short run and pass. The team lined up on their 43-yard line to start their fourth offensive possession. Hurts handed it off to Saquon Barkley for a loss of one, then immediately went to Brown for a gain of 22 yards, putting them in KC territory. The team tried to get Barkley going again but had no luck. After two shotgun snaps, they settled for a successful field goal and raised the score to 10-0. Coming down to the last eight and a half minutes of the second quarter, Mahomes needed to get something on the board. The offense began on their 30-yard line and made significant errors. The star quarterback got sacked twice in a row by Josh Sweat and Jalyx Hunt, pushing the team back six yards. Mahomes then tried to connect with Deandre Hopkins while getting pressed on his left side but got picked off by Cooper Dejean for a pick-six. The rookie secured his first NFL takeaway and return. To end the quarter, Zack Baun got in on the action for another interception intended for Marquise Brown. Setting up shop on the Chiefs’ 14-yard line, Brown hauled in a TD and extended the lead 24-0 going into halftime.
Kansas City drove the ball first to start the second half but got nowhere, resulting in the Eagles notching another three points. With about five minutes remaining in the third, the Chiefs began using all four downs but failed to reach the marker. This created great field positioning for the Eagles, leading to Hurts launching a deep pass for DeVonte Smith, increasing the gap 34-0. For Mahomes, getting down the field quickly was a must at this point. In five plays, Xavier Worthy snatched the ball for 24 yards and got into the endzone for the team’s first six points. Andy Reid called for two but failed to connect with Travis Kelce to end the quarter.
The Eagles responded with a field goal after Hurts scrambled 17 yards before getting sacked on the Chiefs’ 30-yard line. As Mahomes got the ball back, the pocket collapsed, leading to him getting tackled and fumbling the rock. Milton Williams recovered the football on the 33-yard line for the Eagles. The team ran it with Barkley intending to burn the clock, which ended in kicking another three-pointer. With backups in for the Eagles, Mahomes advanced the ball much easier. The 29-year-old targeted Hopkins and Worthy for two touchdowns and succeeded on both two-point conversions, but it was too late. Kenny Pickett took a knee, allowing the Eagles to claim their 40-22 Super Bowl LIX victory.
Deep diving into the stats, Mahomes dropped back 42 times while the Eagles did not blitz once, according to Ari Meirov on X. The team relied on four guys up front.
What went wrong was that Mahomes had no one deep. Eagles’ defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s scheme is to give up small plays rather than big ones. “Philadelphia wanted to rely on its front four to create relentless pressure on the star quarterback while allowing its linebackers and defensive backs to focus on shadowing Kansas City’s receivers,” Jeffri Chadiha reported. This led to turnovers which Mahomes and the Chiefs could never recover from.
“They played better than us from the start to finish; we didn’t start how we wanted to. Obviously, the turnovers hurt, and I take all the blame for that, Mahomes said. “Those early turnovers swing the momentum of a game and then they capitalized on them.”
One thing the Chiefs did consistently was stop Barkley. The running back only ran for 57 yards, which is his second-lowest total in the 2024-2025 season. Despite struggling to break loose, the 28-year-old “eclipsed Terrell Davis for most rushing yards in a single season” with 2,504 yards, per Adam Schefter on X.