This was a Super Bowl matchup that could have been an incredible showcase of the NFL's brand but ended up a blowout with the two-time defending champs looking completely lost on offense. The Eagles controlled this one wire to wire. Here are my takeaways…
Eagle’s Defense: The Chiefs could not do anything from the outset. The Eagles kept up the pressure constantly without blitzing, at all. Zero blitzes in this game. Mahomes was not his normal magically elusive self either. When he managed to scramble to the outside he wasn’t finding open receivers and when he tried to climb the pocket, the Eagles were waiting for him every time. After a Bryan Cook interception gave the Chiefs a glimpse of breathing room, the Eagles sacked Mahomes on first and second down before he threw from the run and was picked off by rookie Cooper DeJean who returned it for a touchdown. After forcing a punt the Chiefs got the ball back with time before half and getting the 2nd half kickoff, another opportunity. Deep in his own territory, on first down, Mahomes was hit as he threw and tossed it straight to Zack Baun for a second interception. The Eagles scored another touchdown and took a 24 - 0 lead into the half. The Chiefs didn’t really have another opportunity to get back into it. The Eagles ran up the lead to 40 - 6 before giving up some garbage time touchdowns. In total, the Eagles defense produced 6 sacks, 2 interceptions and a fumble recovery on a strip sack.
Saquon Barkley: The Chiefs did manage to keep Saquon under control. He rushed 25 times for just 57 yards. Adding 6 receptions for 40 yards helped but there were not many prognosticators who would have called an Eagles blow-out with Saquon under 60 yards rushing. Not that it’s much consolation to the losing team, but still impressive.
Jalen Hurts wins Super Bowl MVP: With their primary weapon held down, it was up to the often questioned Hurts to produce for the Eagles. The way things unfolded it wasn’t a huge lift but Hurts was very good, completing 17 of 22 for 221 yards and 2 touchdowns. He added 72 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Coming into this game he had 4 playoff berths and 2 Super Bowl appearances in 5 seasons. Now he’s added a ring and a Super Bowl MVP. Haters are going to hate however, so I’m sure the Hurts debate will continue. To be fair, if the entire defense could be named MVP they easily would have won but Hurts did everything he needed to do and had some great throws. Near the end of the 3rd quarter, Kellen Moore caught everyone flat footed when he dialed up a go route when everyone in the stadium thought they would eat clock. Hurts threw a dime 46 yards to hit Devonta Smith in stride and go up 34-0. He was calm, made good choices and was accurate throughout.
Kellen Moore: The Eagles offensive coordinator accepted the Saints head coaching position over the weekend and put on a show in his new home stadium. The Chiefs defense was very good against the run this season while the Eagles were 1st in rush attempts and 32nd in pass attempts. It doesn't get more run heavy than that. Despite having the strength of his offense shutdown, Moore called an incredible game. Saints fans had a long wait for their head coach, but they have got to be riding high after watching this one.
Chiefs Run Game: It must have gotten lost at the airport. The Chiefs running backs combined for 7 carries and 24 yards. Clearly this was not a game script that favored the run but they only had 3 rush attempts in the first half. They weren’t able to get anything going when they did run but it was still something of a shock to see it so thoroughly abandoned.
Penalties: The Chiefs would have needed an air drop of yellow flags to make a difference here, but the officiating was mostly good. There was an offensive pass interference call that ended the Eagle’s opening drive which looked pretty soft. Their next drive was extended by a questionable flag on a hit to the helmet of Dallas Goedert. They were backed up after a holding penalty in the 2nd quarter when a highly suspect late hit call gave them a first down. Other than that the calls looked clean to me and certainly didn’t benefit the Chiefs. Penalties helped kill what little momentum they built but most of them were come by honestly.
GOAT Watch: Another popular topic around the league is comparing Patrick Mahomes to Tom Brady. It was pretty interesting to hear Brady call this game. For those of us keeping score, Mahomes finishes his seventh season with 3 rings, the same number Brady had after seven years. Mahomes holds the lead in passing yards and touchdowns. While completing the three-peat would have given his GOAT credentials a big boost, the race is far from over. The drubbing the Chiefs took here is going to be an interesting wrinkle in that conversation as Brady surely never took this kind of shellacking in the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs Future: What does this loss mean for the Chiefs dynasty? Not much in my estimation. Travis Kelce looked miserable for this entire game. He’s been non-committal about retirement this season so we may see a post-Kelce version of this offense soon. Andy Reid is another candidate to retire and that would be an enormous blow to the team. I think they have a great replacement in Steve Spagnuolo. That’s just speculation on my part, but maybe the reason he hasn’t left to coach the Jets or the Raiders is that he’s already in a good position to get the job he wants. Xavier Worthy has really emerged as a reliable and explosive target for Mahomes. He led the Chiefs in this game with 8 receptions for 157 yards and 2 touchdowns and has 40 receptions over the last five games. Rashee Rice, will be back at some point in 2025. Their terrific 2022 draft class has another year on their rookie deals, which is good as cap space is tight. Free agency will likely cost them a couple of important players but Chiefs fans still have reason for optimism.
The Entertainment: The City of New Orleans is about as good as it gets for live music and the performances throughout the game highlighted the city and the league very well. Lady Gaga’s pregame performance on Bourbon Street was incredible, as always. The pregame show on field was awesome with marching bands and New Orleans luminaries performing. Jon Batiste’s National Anthem was phenomenal. I think his heady jazz treatment would sink in better in a more intimate setting but he has the pipes for the fifty yard line too. Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show featured “Uncle Sam” (Samuel L. Jackson) as a master of ceremonies. Kendrick moved between four stages accompanied by dancers in red, white and blue. The performance was serious and artistic which is what I expected from Kendrick. You probably need a college professor to unpack all the social, cultural and political themes in the lyrics, the staging and the choreography, but even for the layman the performance looked and sounded great. A Guest appearance by SZA was appreciated and Serena Williams showing up as dancer at one point was apparently related to his beef with Drake but also just cool since she’s amazing as well.
The Commercials: My favorites were Eugene Levy’s flying eyebrows selling Little Caesar’s, Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara becoming Pickleball gods to sell us Michelob Ultra and Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan teaming up with Sydney Sweeny to recreate the iconic scene from “When Harry met Sally”, and sell some mayonnaise. Lost at the end of the game was an absolute gem of a Tostino’s ad with Tim Robinson of “I Think You Should Leave”. A group of humans are having a tearful goodbye with an adorable alien friend when the spaceship door closes on his head. If you missed that one, look it up.
That’s about it for 2025! You may have noticed that I’m not Andy Richardson. He’s travelling and asked me to fill in which I was glad to do. Thank you for reading and being part of the Fantasy Index community this season.
- Ben Prator