New OrleansCNN —
It was a stunning sight. Patrick Mahomes, the legend in the making who so often has all the answers, was stumped.
Caught by Fox’s cameras staring blankly at the field, Mahomes had just thrown his second interception of the game and the Eagles were suddenly about to make their lead grow to 24-0. It seemed improbable, if not impossible, but the heir apparent to the title of “Greatest Of All Time” looked like he was coming to a brutal realization: With a chance at a historic three-peat on the line, Mahomes and the Chiefs just didn’t have it.
They never really found it either. A 40-22 trouncing by the Philadelphia Eagles put an end to the dream of a never-before-done three-peat and the Chiefs will now spend the whole offseason wondering how a team full of winners came up so short in the season’s biggest game.
A nightmare of a second quarter saw the Eagles jump out to a massive lead that set the tone for the rest of the game. The Chiefs couldn’t ever really get going and, despite scoring two touchdowns in the second half, never threatened the Eagles.
The stats tell the story. In the first half, the Chiefs picked up a single first down. They gained 23 total yards. Mahomes went 6-for-14 for a grand total of 33 yards and two interceptions – one that was returned for a touchdown and that baffling pick with 1:49 to go in the second quarter that set the Eagles up for their third touchdown of the night.
The story was much the same in the second half. Mahomes again couldn’t deal with the Eagles’ pass rush and defensive tackle Milton Williams put the icing on the cake with a strip sack and fumble recovery combination in the fourth quarter that officially put any comeback hopes away for good. He finished the night with a couple of garbage-time touchdowns, but the game was never as close as the final score indicated. Mahomes finished 21-for-32 with 257 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
“He’s human. I think you guys see that, that he’s human. They converted off our mistakes and – he’s a human being, and I guess the world got to see that,” said wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins after the game.
It was a brutal way for this run at history to end, an emphatic whupping put on a team that hasn’t had that happen to them too much in the last few years. Even when the Chiefs got blown out by the Denver Broncos at the end of the regular season this year, they could justify it by the fact that most of the team’s starters were resting with home-field advantage already secured.
But this time, there was no such excuse. A healthy Kansas City team simply ran into a green buzzsaw in the Eagles. In a game where the team that makes the least mistakes usually wins, the Chiefs simply made too many errors and looked out of sorts at critical moments.
“Today was a rough day. We really didn’t play well in any of the phases. Didn’t coach good enough. They did a nice job,” head coach Andy Reid said. “I’m proud of our guys, though, for the battle, the fight that they put in throughout the year, and all the games that they played here over the last few years. So, my hat goes off to the guys for that, and we’ll learn from this.”
Milton Williams of the Philadelphia Eagles causes a fumble by Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth quarter. Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
An offense out of sync leads to mistakes
In the opening stages, Mahomes and his team weren’t quite on the same page. And then in the second quarter, the Eagles pass rush – one of the league’s worst – started to get home.
Without time to let plays develop, the Chiefs’ quarterback started to try and force things more than he usually does. Two straight sacks preceded his first interception, in which he was flushed from the pocket by the pass rush once again and threw back across his body – that cardinal sin of quarterbacking that Mahomes can get away with occasionally on talent alone.
He seemed to not see Cooper DeJean, and the Philly defensive back had one of the easiest interceptions of his life. He made the most of it too, bringing it all the way back for a touchdown.
The second interception came when edge rusher Josh Sweat pushed left tackle Joe Thuney into Mahomes. The contact was enough to push the quarterback off balance, and his throw ended up in the arms of Zack Baun as the linebacker dove to make the play.
“Credit to the Eagles, they played better than us from start to finish. We didn’t start how we wanted to. Obviously, the turnovers hurt,” Mahomes said after the game. “I take all the blame for that. I mean, those early turnovers swing the momentum of the game and then they capitalize on them and they score on the one and they got a touchdown immediately after, so that’s 14 points that I kind of gave them.”
He added, “It’s hard to come back from that in the Super Bowl. Just didn’t play to my standard and I have to be better next time.”
Center Creed Humphrey said the Chiefs came out of the locker room flat to start the game and simply couldn’t match the level of effort that the Eagles had.
It was an uncharacteristic night for the Chiefs all around. A usually stalwart offensive line couldn’t keep Eagles pass rushers from getting to Mahomes over and over, and often without Philly bringing extra defenders on a blitz.
“They didn’t show any different looks. They didn’t show anything un-scouted. It just came down to them coming out and playing harder,” Humphrey said.
Kansas City Chiefs players look on from the sidelines in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles during Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome. Patrick Smith/Getty Images
The end of an era?
There’s a reason why no team has pulled off a three-peat of Super Bowl wins. The NFL is perhaps the American sports league with the most parity and, as the saying goes, any team can win on any given Sunday.
What the Chiefs believed set them apart from other organizations was their self-belief and confidence. The roster is full of proven winners, players who thought that they could conquer any obstacle placed in their path.
The Eagles punched a hole in that balloon on Sunday. The air of invincibility is gone and maybe the sense of inevitability around the Chiefs’ success went with it.
“Yeah, we definitely felt like the game wasn’t out of hand yet and that we had an opportunity to come back. But like I said the Eagles played a great game their defense… it was just lights out,” said linebacker Charles Omenihu.
A camera shot about halfway through the third quarter caught Travis Kelce and his teammates looking forlorn on the bench as the Eagles once again looked poised to get into the end zone. The long looks said it all: An incredible run of success was coming to an end right before their eyes.
Crucially for the Chiefs, some of their most important pieces have many years left in front of them in football. But getting back to the Super Bowl with teams like the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens and others knocking on their door is going to get harder, not easier. And keeping up this kind of run of success in the NFL – five Super Bowls in six years, three championships – is unbelievably difficult.
After the game the Chiefs seemed determine to use the game as motivation, rather than seeming wistful about the end of a magical run.
“Anytime you lose a Super Bowl, it’s one of the worst feelings in the world. They’ll stick with you the rest of your career,” said Mahomes of the two Super Bowls he’s now lost. “These will be the two losses that will motivate me to be even better the rest of my career because you only get so few of these and you have to capitalize on these. They hurt probably more than the wins feel good.”
Fref:: CNN