In New Orleans, the Eagles’ defense dominated, shutting down the Chiefs 40-22 and preventing their Super Bowl three-peat

Yo Philly: Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni are world champions!

A powerful Philadelphia Eagles defense made Patrick Mahomes’ life difficult, while Hurts made all the right plays to secure the win. The Chiefs’ hopes for a Super Bowl three-peat were dashed.

It wasn’t even a close contest.

Cooper DeJean celebrated his 22nd birthday with a pick-6, Josh Sweat pressured Mahomes throughout the game, and the Eagles crushed the Chiefs 40-22 on Sunday to claim the franchise’s second Super Bowl title.

Hurts threw two touchdowns and ran for another on a tush push, earning Super Bowl MVP honors. Vic Fangio’s defense was so strong that the Eagles didn’t need much from Saquon Barkley, who finished with 57 yards, breaking Terrell Davis’ record for rushing yards in a season and playoffs combined. Hurts passed for 221 yards.

“This is the ultimate team game. You can’t be great without the greatness of others. Great performance by everybody — offense, defense, special teams,” Sirianni said. “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 faced doubts since he played for Alabama in a national championship game and was benched for Tua Tagovailoa. Even finishing second to Mahomes in MVP voting two years ago didn’t fully quiet his critics. Now, he’s holding the Vince Lombardi trophy.

Sirianni, who dealt with criticism and mockery early in the season, proved his worth by adding a championship ring to his resume, which already includes one of the best coaching win percentages in league 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,” Hurts said. He came close to beating the Chiefs two years ago in Arizona.

Superbowl filled with Stars

With Donald Trump becoming the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl, the Eagles outplayed the Chiefs in every aspect, thrilling a pro-Philly crowd that cheered with each score, singing “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 star in attendance, watching boyfriend Travis Kelce, who didn’t catch a pass until late in the third quarter.

Kansas City fans never imagined such a poor performance. The Chiefs had won three of the last five Super Bowls, with their only loss coming 31-9 to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers four years ago.

Mahomes had a perfect 8-0 record against Fangio’s defenses before the longtime coordinator and former Broncos head coach outsmarted Andy Reid, finishing his first season with his hometown team. Reid’s Super Bowl record fell to 3-3, including a loss with the Eagles.

The Eagles sacked Mahomes six times, the most he has ever been sacked in a game, with 2 1/2 sacks from Sweat and two from Milton Williams. They accomplished this 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, the 2024 NFL Offensive Player of the Year, only rushed for 31 yards in the first half as 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 achieve a three-peat in the Super Bowl era. Two years ago, Mahomes led a comeback, and Harrison Butker kicked the game-winning field goal in the final minute for a 38-35 victory over the Eagles. Mahomes also led Kansas City to an overtime win against San Francisco last year.

“That’s a great football team and we had to come out and play our best, and we did,” Sirianni said.

This time, a revamped Philly defense with eight new starters from the 2022 team made sure Mahomes couldn’t work his magic.

Sirianni was drenched in Gatorade with almost three minutes left in the game while backup QB Kenny Pickett took the final snaps.

“Today was a rough day all around. Nothing went right. I didn’t coach well. Proud of our guys for fighting. We will learn from this,” Reid said. “Too many turnovers, too many penalties. Against a good football team, can’t do that.”

Barkley and Hurts took the game away

Barkley helped 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 back-to-back plays. Mahomes then rolled out and made a poor throw, which was intercepted by DeJean, who returned it 38 yards for a 17-0 lead.

“When you have a great line up front … 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 picked off Mahomes again late in the second quarter, and Hurts connected with A.J. Brown for a 12-yard TD pass, making it 24-0.

Hurts threw a perfect 46-yard TD pass to DeVonta Smith to extend the lead to 34-0 late in the third quarter.

Mahomes threw a 24-yard TD pass to Xavier Worthy to avoid the shutout, but the 2-point conversion failed. He later threw two mostly meaningless TD passes, one to DeAndre Hopkins and another to Worthy.

After two weeks of discussions about questionable calls that led to public criticism claiming officials favor the Chiefs — a theory NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called “ridiculous” — the first penalty of the game only fueled the critics.

A 32-yard pass from Hurts to Brown, putting the ball at the Chiefs’ 18-yard line on fourth-and-2, was negated by a penalty for offensive pass interference. Brady, now a Fox analyst, and officiating expert Mike Pereira both disagreed with the call, though Brown did shove 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-yard line and scored on the next play.

Hurts’ streak of 217 passes without an interception ended in the first half when he was intercepted deep in Kansas City’s territory, but the Chiefs didn’t capitalize.

The Green Bay Packers are the only NFL team to win three championships in a row, doing so 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 major American professional leagues to win three straight titles.