NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Cooper DeJean, Josh Sweat and the Philadelphia Eagles’ ferocious defence denied Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs a Super Bowl three-peat.
It wasn’t even close.
DeJean got a pick-6 on his 22nd birthday, Sweat tormented Mahomes and the Eagles routed the Chiefs 40-22 on Sunday to secure the franchise’s second Super Bowl championship.
Jalen Hurts threw for two touchdowns and ran for a score on a tush push, and Vic Fangio's defence was so dominant that the Eagles didn't need much from Saquon Barkley.
The game-changing running back finished with 57 yards, breaking Terrell Davis’ record for yards rushing in a season, playoffs included. Hurts threw for 221 yards.
With Donald Trump becoming the first president in office to attend a Super Bowl, the Eagles outplayed Kansas City in every facet, delighting a raucous pro-Philly crowd that celebrated each score with a familiar rendition of “Fly! Eagles! Fly!”
Even Taylor Swift’s presence couldn’t help the Chiefs. They lost for the first time in 10 games this season with the pop superstar in a suite watching boyfriend Travis Kelce, who didn’t catch a pass until late in the third quarter.
Not in Kansas City’s worst nightmares could its fans have imagined such a lacklustre performance. The Chiefs had won three of the previous five Super Bowls, losing 31-9 to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers four years ago.
Mahomes was 8-0 against Fangio’s defences before the longtime coordinator and former Broncos head coach outcoached Andy Reid, capping his first season with his hometown team. Reid fell to 3-3 in Super Bowls, including a loss with the Eagles.
The Eagles sacked Mahomes six times, the most of his career, including 2 1/2 by Sweat. And they did it without Fangio calling a single blitz.
Barkley, the 2024 AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year, only had 31 yards rushing in the first half when Philly built a 24-0 lead.
The Chiefs were aiming to become the third team in NFL history to win three straight championships and the first to three-peat in the Super Bowl era.
Hurts nearly led the Eagles to victory against the Chiefs two years ago in Arizona, but Mahomes led a comeback and Harrison Butker kicked the game-winning field goal in the final minute for a 38-35 victory. Mahomes rallied Kansas City to an overtime victory over San Francisco last year for the Chiefs' second straight title.
This time, a revamped Philly defence featuring eight new starters from the 2022 team made sure Mahomes had no chance to pull off his magic.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, who mocked fans chanting “Fire Nick!” during a victory over Cleveland in October and was called a “clown” on national television, should finally silence critics by adding a championship ring to a resume that includes the fifth-best winning percentage in league history.
Sirianni was showered with Gatorade with nearly three minutes left in the game while backup QB Kenny Pickett took snaps in mop-up duty.
Barkley helped push Hurts into the end zone from the one-yard line to give Philadelphia a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
Up 10-0 after Jake Elliott’s 48-yard field goal, Sweat and Jalyx Hunt sacked Mahomes on consecutive plays. Mahomes then rolled out and made an errant throw that was picked off by DeJean, who returned it 38 yards for a 17-0 lead.
It was Mahomes’ first pick-6 in 21 career playoff games and ended a streak of 297 straight passes without an interception.
All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun picked off Mahomes again late in the second quarter, and Hurts connected with A.J. Brown on a 12-yard TD pass for a 24-0 lead.
Hurts threw a perfect 46-yard TD pass to DeVonta Smith to make it 34-0 late in the third.
Mahomes fired a 24-yard TD pass to Xavier Worthy to avoid the shutout, but the two-point conversion failed. He threw two late, mostly meaningless TD passes, one to DeAndre Hopkins and another to Worthy.
After two weeks of discussions about questionable calls that led to public perception that officials favour the Chiefs — a theory NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called “ridiculous” — the first penalty of the game only fuelled critics.
A 32-yard pass from Hurts to Brown to the Chiefs 18 on fourth-and-2 was negated by a penalty for offensive pass interference. Brady, now a Fox analyst, and officiating analyst Mike Pereira both disagreed with the call, although Brown shoved Trent McDuffie’s face mask.
On the next possession, the Eagles benefited from an unnecessary roughness penalty on McDuffie against Dallas Goedert following an incomplete pass on third-and-5.
Hurts then connected with Jahan Dotson on a 27-yard pass to the one-yard line and scored on the next play.
Hurts’ streak of 217 passes without a pick ended in the first half when he was intercepted deep in Kansas City territory, but the Chiefs didn’t capitalize.
The Green Bay Packers are the only NFL team to win three championships in a row, doing it from 1929-31 and 1965-67.
The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers from 2000-02, led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neill, are the last team in the major American professional leagues to win three straight titles.
---
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Rob Maaddi, The Associated Press
