NEW ORLEANS — The Kansas City Chiefs are no longer king of the NFL, their hopes of a three-peat blown away.
The Philadelphia Eagles made sure of that on Sunday night — and then some.
In one of the more lopsided results in Super Bowl history (and more one-sided than the final score suggests), the Eagles steamrolled the Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome, giving Philadelphia its second Super Bowl title in franchise history.
For coach Andy Reid and the Chiefs, it was an embarrassing end to a season that looked at times like Kansas City was on its way to a historic NFL first — a Super Bowl three-peat.
Two-time defending champion Kansas City, though, never gave itself a chance in New Orleans, falling behind early and never getting up off the mat when Philadelphia delivered the first punch, then the second punch, then the third punch.
On and on and on and on.
Even with the disappointing loss, Reid praised his team for the fight they put in to get to this point.
“My hat goes off to the guys for that,” he said after the game. “We’ll learn from this — learn from this as a coach, learn from this as players and move on.”
Even though Kansas City was hanging around in the second quarter, the game really started to get out of hand when the hard-charging Eagles harassed Patrick Mahomes into two interceptions in three possessions.
The first came when Mahomes scrambled out of the pocket and tried to throw across his body. Rookie Cooper DeJean made him pay for that decision, intercepting the three-time Super Bowl MVP and returning the ball 38 yards for a pick-six on his 22nd birthday.
That made the score 17-0 Eagles, and they weren’t done before halftime.
“I was trying to find the fastest way to the end zone. Luckily, I got some blocks out there,” DeJean said of the pick-six. “I had to avoid some of those big guys, but it was just our defense working together like we have all year. It fell right into my lap.”
Two drives later, Kansas City found itself pinned inside its 10, and an Eagles defensive line that was dominant all night was disruptive again.
Chiefs left tackle Joe Thuney was pushed into Mahomes as he tried to throw, leading to an errant pass. Philadelphia linebacker Zack Baun made an excellent diving interception on the play, giving the Eagles possession at the Kansas City 14.
Two plays later, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts hit A.J. Brown for a 12-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-0 at halftime.
At that point, with Kansas City only putting up 23 yards of total offense in the first half, the ending felt all but inevitable — and that’s how things played out.
“There’s things that I have to get better at, and they showed today on the biggest stage. I want to find a way this offseason to combat what defenses are doing to me, as far as rush lanes and different coverages that they’re playing,” Mahomes said. “That’s the beauty of football, you never can be satisfied with just going out there and playing and thinking you’re gonna have success year in and year out. These defenses are going to continue to get better and better.”
The Chiefs never had an answer for the Vic Fangio defensive scheme, as the Eagles held Kansas City to 275 total yards — many of which came after the game was well in hand — forced three turnovers and had a crucial turnover on downs.
That came midway through the third and led to another quick Philadelphia score. First, Avante Maddox knocked down a Mahomes pass on fourth and 5, and with the Eagles smelling blood in the water, Hurts threw long.
He found DeVonta Smith for a 46-yard touchdown, making the score 34-0.
That snuffed out any last breath of hope that the Chiefs held in a loss that felt more embarrassing than when Kansas City fell 31-9 to Tampa Bay in Super Bowl LV.
This time, it was only closer because the Chiefs added two touchdowns in the final three minutes.
“Too many turnovers, too many penalties,” lamented Reid. “That’s a good football team that won this game.”
Reid and the Chiefs had the chance to make history — no other team had ever won three straight Super Bowls.
By advancing to Sunday’s championship game, Kansas City had already made a bit of history — none of the other eight times when a team won back-to-back Super Bowls had they made it back to a third, but the Chiefs did.
Reid, too, coached his 45th playoff game, passing former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick (at 44) for the overall lead in coaching postseason games.
That’s where the history making ended, though.
Reid had a chance to become just the third head coach ever to win four Super Bowls, but for now, he’ll stay behind Belichick (six Super Bowl wins) and former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll (four).
After the game, Reid commended his team for owning their mistakes, while also taking ownership for his own that helped drop Kansas City to 3-2 in Super Bowls over the past six seasons.
“You listen to Pat, you listen to these other guys. That’s how we are, stand-up guys with it. Coaches are stand-up about it,” Reid said. “They did a better job than what we did. It starts with me. It’s hard to face, it’s hard to look at, because of all the time you spent, but you do that and you get better. That’s what you do.”
The Chiefs had few answers for what Philadelphia was throwing at them — Mahomes was sacked six times, and the three-time Super Bowl MVP had his worst NFL title game yet, throwing for 257 yards, three touchdowns (all after Kansas City had fallen behind 34-0) and two interceptions. He also lost a fumble.
Hurts and the Eagles, meanwhile, shined the majority of a cool New Orleans night.
Hurts led his team to scores on seven possessions, and he oftentimes came up with plays at critical moments on his way to earning Super Bowl MVP honors.
“I’m still processing. It’s been a long journey, it’s a journey of ups and downs and highs and lows. I’ve always stayed true to myself and have this vision of being the best that I can be, and that evolved, over time, into this desire to win,” Hurts said, of winning the Super Bowl. “You don’t do great things without having good guys around you. The effort, sticking to the script, and always trusting the process is what got us here.”
Philadelphia got on the board first after Hurts connected with Jahan Dotson for a 27-yard pass down to the Kansas City 1 on the Eagles’ second possession. On the next play, Hurts followed his Tush Push blockers into the end zone for a 7-0 lead.
Hurts ended up throwing for 221 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He also ran for a game-high 72 yards and a rushing score, as the Eagles outrushed Kansas City 135-49.
This year was the fourth time that two quarterbacks met in a rematch in a Super Bowl — two years ago, Mahomes and the Chiefs bested Hurts and the Eagles 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII in Arizona.
In those previous three rematches — Terry Bradshaw vs. Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman vs. Jim Kelly, and Eli Manning vs. Tom Brady — the quarterback who won the first matchup also won the second.
Hurts broke that streak, commanding a Philadelphia offense that put up 345 yards and drove into Kansas City territory on 10 of its 13 possessions.
“He played incredible. He did amazing. I know I’m throwing adjectives at you, but he played really well,” Brown said of Hurts. “He was poised the whole game, he was in control, he made checks and he threw dimes. He just gave us opportunities, and when we were covered a little bit, he took off running — he used his legs.”
Saquon Barkley, the driving force behind the Eagles offense so often this year, ground out 57 tough yards as well. Like DeJean, Barkley celebrated his birthday, his 28th, with his first Super Bowl victory.
“It took a team effort. Coaches, everyone in the Eagles organization, it takes all of us,” Barkley said, choosing to shine the spotlight on the team effort that forged the Eagles to victory.
The biggest part of that spotlight shined on Fangio and the Eagles defense, which never let the Chiefs get past midfield until late in the third quarter.
Josh Sweat had 2.5 sacks, while Milton Williams added two. In total, the Eagles sacked Mahomes six times.
“Their defensive line did a nice job,” Reid said.
It leaves Philadelphia and its fans exiting New Orleans feeling like it’s Mardi Gras, and the exuberance shouldn’t go away anytime soon — not for a franchise that just won its second Super Bowl title in the past eight years.
“Today we needed the efforts of everyone. Long story short, you can’t be great without the greatness of others,” said Eagles coach Nick Sirianni.
For the Chiefs, there will be questions moving forward, among them, will Kansas City be back in this position again?
The Chiefs played in their fifth Super Bowl in six years on Sunday, and could be there again if guys like Reid, Mahomes and Travis Kelce — who was held without a catch during the first half — are back next season.
Reid and Mahomes will be, while Kelce has left the future more wide open.
“We’ve got a great nucleus of players,” Reid said. “Like we’ve done before, we work on the things that we’re not doing well, whether it’s coaches or players. And we take responsibility for it.”
