Former Chiefs player says Eagles Super Bowl team wasn’t that good — even though the loss left him in tears
Charles Omenihu thought the Chiefs were “going to dog” the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX — and still thinks they’d win more times than not.
It’s been over a year since the green and white confetti rained down inside the Superdome as the Eagles captured their second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.
The memories from that night are likely still fresh in the minds of every Philly sports fan, something fun that comes up at parties or when a conversation eventually turns to the Birds. But for former Chiefs defensive end Charles Omenihu, the night ended in tears.
Perhaps that’s because Omenihu never imagined the game would go that way, quickly turning into a 40-22 blowout that ended the Chiefs’ hopes of a three-peat.
“I thought we were going to dog them,” Omenihu admitted on The Speakeasy podcast alongside former Eagle Emmanuel Acho. “I’m not even going to lie to you … I thought we was going to dog them. I thought it was going to be a slugfest and we were going to get it at the end. The only matchup I was [concerned about], our O-line was a little banged up. But beyond that, I wasn’t tripping on nothing else to be honest.”
That’s not what happened.
» READ MORE: Gov. Josh Shapiro on Eagles stadium talks: ‘They’re going to stay in Philly’
The Eagles sacked Patrick Mahomes six times and forced him to turn the ball over three times. The score was 24-0 at half, and 34-0 before the Chiefs finally scored in the final minute of the third quarter. One of the members of that defense, cornerback Darius Slay, responded to the clip on social media, saying that Omenihu was “tripping.”
“Y’all ain’t stand a chance,” Slay wrote on social media. “How you go talk like that and we took the starters out. Could’ve put 50 on them boys [for real, for real].”
Even with the lopsided outcome and Acho listing all the star power on the Eagles, Omenihu said he believes the San Francisco 49ers team the Chiefs beat in overtime in the previous Super Bowl was the superior squad.
“That 49ers team we beat in the Super Bowl [the year before] was better than that Eagles team,” Omenihu continued. “Deebo [Samuel], [Brandon] Aiyuk, George [Kittle], Jauan [Jennings], Brock [Purdy], Christian [McCaffrey], Juice [Kyle Juszczyk]. OK, you got that. On defense, [Nick] Bosa, [Javon] Hargrave, Fred [Warner], Chase Young, Randy Gregory, [Charvarius] Ward.”
» READ MORE: 2026 NFL draft, position by position: Will the Eagles find a tight end they like?
The 2023 49ers finished the regular season with a 12-5 record, ultimately falling 25-22 to the Chiefs in overtime. The 2024 Eagles finished the regular season with a 14-3 record and were up 40-6 over the Chiefs before putting in their backups.
There may be some bias on Omenihu’s part, considering he played for the 49ers for nearly two seasons before he was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs. During his tenure with the 49ers, he suffered another blowout loss to the Eagles in the postseason: a 31-7 drubbing in the 2023 NFC championship game. Overall, the seven-year vet is 0-4 in his career against the Birds, including those two postseason losses.
Despite evidence to the contrary, Omenihu said he thinks the Chiefs would win more than half the time if they played that game another 10 times — and he doesn’t think there’d be another loss as bad as the one they suffered in New Orleans.
“I think we get six [out of 10],” Omenihu said before admitting the score was indeed a big part of the reason for his tears. “Come on, man. They ain’t doing us like that. Forty. A 40-ball. Forty is tough. I didn’t think we were getting a 40-ball on us. In my life, never. And then people want to do me [dirty] for having my reaction on the sideline. Forty, come on, bro. I was crying. Yes, I was. And I’m OK with it.”
» READ MORE: Artemis II astronaut Christina Koch is a big Philly sports fan — and even watches games from space
The other reason for his emotion? The defensive end tore his ACL in the AFC championship game the year before and missed the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win over the 49ers. He returned midway through the 2024 season.
“The thing is, the emotions came from the year before. I wasn’t able to play in the Super Bowl. … So, like not playing that [year] and then you get to play in one and [they drop] a 40-ball?”
Unfortunately for Omenihu, his latest comments — like his Super Bowl tears — aren’t likely to be forgotten by Eagles fans. He signed with the Washington Commanders this offseason and will see the Birds twice this season.