There will be no three-peat this year.
A dominant performance by the Eagles defense crushed the Chiefs’ hopes of winning their third straight Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday night. The Eagles held the Chiefs to 12 first downs and Jalen Hurts accounted for three touchdown as the Eagles rolled to a 40-22 win that didn’t feel anywhere near that close.
The Eagles led 24-0 at halftime after holding the Chiefs to 23 total yards and 20 net passing yards in the first 30 minutes of play. They sacked Patrick Mahomes six times and picked him off twice, including one that rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean returned for a touchdown that made it 17-0 in the second quarter.
Mahomes’s history in Super Bowls meant there was still some hope that the Chiefs would be able to get back into the game, but a diving interception by Eagles linebacker Zack Baun just before halftime set up an A.J. Brown touchdown that made it clear that it was Philly’s night.
Mahomes also lost a fumble on his way to his second loss in a Super Bowl. This one felt similar to the 31-9 loss to the Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV, but the Eagles were even more impressive in shutting down a team that continually found ways to win games on their way to New Orleans.
Hurts opened the scoring with a one-yard plunge on a Tush Push and threw a beautiful ball to DeVonta Smith for a 46-yard score in the second half. Hurts finished 17-of-22 for 221 yards and he ran 11 times for 72 yards on a redemptive night for a quarterback and team that lost to the Eagles in a squeaker in Super Bowl LVII.
While Hurts had an excellent game, the story of the night was the defense. Josh Sweat had 2.5 sacks and Milton Williams forced Mahomes’s fumble on one of his two sacks. Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had been 0-8 in games against Mahomes before Sunday night, but the first-year Eagles defensive coordinator used his talented defensive line to create constant pressure against an overmatched Chiefs offensive line. That led to some uncharacteristic mistakes for Mahomes and it made for raucous renditions of “Fly Eagles Fly” from the many Eagles fans in attendance.
That song will be heard throughout the night in the French Quarter and around Philadelphia as the Eagles faithful celebrate the second Super Bowl win in franchise history.
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