Arrowhead Pride
With a chance at history, the Chiefs’ offense crumpled to the Eagles’ defense.
After going 15-2 on the season — a franchise record — the Kansas City Chiefs failed in their quest for a third straight Super Bowl win with a 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday night.
The Chiefs won the coin toss to open Super Bowl LIX. The team decided to defer the selection of possession to the second half. That set up Philadelphia to start with the ball, beginning the opening drive at the 30-yard line after a touchback.
Eagles’ quarterback Jalen Hurts was the driver of Philadelphia’s first drive, moving the chains through the air then scrambling out of third and long to set up an attempt to convert fourth down. On the play, Hurts connected with wide receiver A.J. Brown down the sideline to get inside the 20-yard line, but Brown committed offensive pass interference by catching the face mask of cornerback Trent McDuffie.
Philadephia was forced to punt, pinning the Chiefs at their own 12-yard line. The offense got a fresh set of downs and breathing room after wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster found room over the middle. From there, the Chiefs continued passing, but the Eagles had it bottled up. A ball off tight end Travis Kelce’s hands set up third and nine.
On the conversion attempt, Mahomes was forced to circle the field and throw a risky pass downfield that fell to the turf. The Eagles were quickly getting the ball back.
From the 31-yard line, the Eagles’ run game continued to be stifled — but Hurts kept firing downfield. Tight end Dallas Goedert gained 20 yards on one catch, then drew an unneccessary roughness penalty from McDuffie.
Two plays later, the blitz exposed cornerback Jaylen Watson down the sideline for a huge play, setting up Hurts to push his way into the end zone. The Eagles had a 7-0 lead with over six minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
Kick returner Nikko Remigio felt like he gave the Chiefs some momentum with a 35-yard return to set up the second possession. However, the offense went three and out; the run game looks bottled up, and a pressured Mahomes misfired as he was tackled on third down.
The Eagles continued methodically marching down the field through the end of the first quarter. From the Chiefs’ 35-yard line, Hurts dropped back and was sacked, but defensive end Charles Omenihu was called for offside. That reset the downs for the Eagles at the 30-yard line, although safety Chamarri Conner set Philadelphia back four yards on the final play before the end of the period.
The Chiefs got the Eagles to third and 10, and came after Hurts with the blitz again. This time, a lofted pass downfield was short, allowing safety Bryan Cook to secure it at the Chiefs’ two-yard line and end...
