NEW ORLEANS — Yo, Philly! Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni are world champions.
A ferocious Philadelphia Eagles defense tormented and frustrated Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, while Hurts made all the plays the offense needed Sunday night at Super Bowl LIX.
So much for the Chiefs’ quest for an unprecedented three-peat. It wasn’t even close.
Rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean returned an interception for a touchdown on his 22nd birthday, linebacker Josh Sweat pressured Mahomes all night, and the Eagles routed the Chiefs 40-22 at the Superdome to secure the franchise’s second Super Bowl championship in its fifth appearance in the big game.
Hurts, who threw for two touchdowns and 221 yards and ran for another score on a tush push, was voted the game’s MVP, and first-year Philadelphia coordinator Vic Fangio’s defense was so dominant that the Eagles didn’t need much from star running back Saquon Barkley, whose seventh NFL season but first in Philadelphia couldn’t have been better.
The game-changing player did finish with 57 yards on the ground Sunday — his 28th birthday — which was enough to break the NFL record for rushing yards in a season, playoffs included, set by Terrell Davis for the 1998 Denver Broncos while helping them to a Super Bowl title that season.
Sirianni capped his fourth year in charge of the Eagles with the NFL’s ultimate prize: the Lombardi Trophy, which doesn’t go to a single coach or player but everyone involved.
“This is the ultimate team game,” Sirianni said. “You can’t be great without the greatness of others. Great performance by everybody: offense, defense, special teams. We didn’t really ever care what anyone thought about how we won, or their opinions. All we want to do is win.”
Hurts has been doubted since he started for Alabama in the College Football Playoff national championship game seven years ago but was benched at halftime for Tua Tagovailoa, who rallied the Crimson Tide to an overtime victory. Finishing second to Mahomes in NFL MVP voting two years ago didn’t quite silence all the detractors.
Now he has hoisted the Vince Lombardi trophy.
Sirianni, who mocked fans chanting “Fire Nick!” during a victory over the Cleveland Browns back in October and was called a “clown” on national television, also quieted critics by adding a championship ring to a coaching resumé that includes the fifth-best winning percentage in NFL history.
“Things come right on time. The last time around, it wasn’t our time, it wasn’t my time, and sometimes you have to accept that you have to wait your turn,” said Hurts, who nearly led the Eagles to a victory against the Chiefs at Super Bowl LVII in Arizona.
With Donald Trump becoming the first U.S. president in office to attend a Super Bowl, the Eagles outplayed Kansas City in every facet in the rematch, 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 her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end 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 lackluster performance. The Chiefs had won three of the previous five Super Bowls, losing 31-9 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers four years ago as quarterback Tom Brady won his seventh and final championship ring after six with the New England Patriots.
Mahomes was 8-0 against Fangio’s defenses before the longtime coordinator and former Broncos head coach outmatched the wits of Kansas City head coach Andy Reid, capping his first season with his hometown team.
Reid fell to 3-3 in Super Bowls, including a loss during his 14-year tenure in Philadelphia before taking over the Chiefs in 2013.
The Eagles sacked Mahomes six times, the most of his NFL career, including 2.5 by Sweat and two by Milton Williams. And they did it without Fangio calling a single blitz.
“Defense wins championships,” Hurts said. “We saw how they played today. We saw the difference they made in the game. They gave us opportunities, gave us short fields. And we’re able to do what we do.”
Barkley, this season’s NFL offensive player of the year, rushed for only 31 yards in the first half as the Eagles 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.
Two years ago, Mahomes led a comeback and Harrison Butker kicked the winning field goal in the final minute for a 38-35 victory over the Eagles. Mahomes rallied Kansas City to an overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers last year, and the Chiefs had used more playoff magic from him this season to become the first team to reach the Super Bowl after winning the previous two.
“That’s a great football team,” Sirianni said, “and we had to come out and play our best, and we did.”
This time, a revamped Philadelphia defense featuring eight starters who weren’t on the 2022 team made sure Mahomes had no chance to pull off any tricks.
Sirianni was showered with Gatorade with nearly three minutes left in the game while backup quarterback Kenny Pickett took snaps in mop-up duty.
“Today was a rough day all around. Nothing went right. I didn’t coach well,” Reid said. “Proud of our guys for fighting. We will learn from this. Too many turnovers, too many penalties. Against a good football team, can’t do that.”
Barkley helped push Hurts into the end zone from the 1-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.
“When you have a great line up front, (that) makes it easier on the back end, and when they take the run away, it allows us to get the pass rush going,” DeJean said.
It was Mahomes’ first pick-6 in 21 career playoff games and ended a streak of 297 straight passes without an interception.
“We didn’t start how we wanted to. The turnovers hurt. I take all the blame for that,” Mahomes said.
All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun intercepted Mahomes again late in the second quarter, and Hurts connected with A.J. Brown on a 12-yard touchdown pass for a 24-0 lead.
Hurts threw a perfect 46-yard touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith to make it 34-0 late in the third quarter.
Mahomes fired a 24-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Worthy to avoid the shutout, but the 2-point conversion attempt failed. He threw two late, mostly meaningless touchdown passes, one to DeAndre Hopkins and another to Worthy.
After two weeks of discussions about questionable calls that led to public perception that game officials favor the Chiefs — a theory NFL commissioner Roger Goodell called “ridiculous” — the first penalty of the game only fueled 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 facemask.
On the next possession, the Eagles benefited from an unnecessary roughness penalty on McDuffie against Dallas Goedert after an incomplete pass on third-and-5. Hurts then connected with Jahan Dotson on a 27-yard pass to the 1 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, with the latter two of those in what would retroactively be referred to as the first two Super Bowl sas the AFL-NFL merger was completed.
The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers from 2000-02, led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neill, remain the most recent team in the major North American pro leagues to win three straight titles.