Arrowhead Pride
The Kansas City Chiefs don’t need their memory refreshed. As they head into their Week 2 rematch with the Philadelphia Eagles, their 40-22 loss in Super Bowl LIX still weighs heavily on them. Sunday isn’t just a chance to settle the score. It’s also an opportunity to prove they’ve learned from one of the worst performances in recent team history.
“You have to learn from it,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes told reporters on Wednesday. “It sucks that [we lost] the game — but in order to progress and be better next time, you have to watch and learn from it.”
That means revisiting how Philadelphia’s defense dominated, holding Kansas City to just 23 total yards (and no points) in the first half, fueled by relentless pressure that produced six sacks and two interceptions by game’s end. Mahomes has rewatched the film throughout the offseason — and again this week in preparation for the rematch.
“They had a great game plan,” he admitted. “They played hard and did a great job of disrupting my timing. I have to learn from that — and find ways to get the ball out of my hand. Then when the opportunities are there? I think that’s something I missed early in the game: there were opportunities to make plays. You’ve got to make those plays — because if you don’t, they’re not going to allow those opportunities again.”
Unfortunately for the Chiefs, Friday’s Week 1 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers offered some fresh reminders of their Super Bowl failures. In São Paulo, Kansas City lost 27-21 as a slow start, costly penalties, and missed opportunities once again doomed the offense. While Mahomes finished strong with 258 passing yards and two total touchdowns, it wasn’t enough to win the game.
“You’re going to have failures in this league,” he said. “It’s about how you respond from those failures. That’s something that’s important in anyone’s career. For me, I’ve got to continue to push to be even better — so that I don’t make those same mistakes when I get the opportunity to again.”
The team’s defensive players also need to learn from their mistakes. Linebacker Nick Bolton pointed to tackling — the Chiefs had 10 missed tackles in the opener — and the need for “discipline and focus.” If missed tackles and defensive breakdowns were a problem in Week 1, the Super Bowl showed how those errors can become enormous problems against Philadelphia’s explosive offense.
“They have a lot of playmakers out there,” Bolton said of the Eagles. “Their quarterback [Jalen Hurts] has been a great player for them the last couple of years. Run game, pass, quick throws, deep ball? He does a little bit of everything for them. And with the playmakers they have, it’s going to be a tremendous challenge for us.”
To Mahomes, it’s a simple equation.
“You learn from the mistakes that you make,” he said. “That’s part of playing the game: you learn from your failures — just like you...
