Chiefs dash Eagles’ title hopes with a 38-35 win in Super Bowl LVII

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Achingly familiar, Philadelphia experienced heartbreak again on Sunday night.

The Eagles were tasked with redirecting the city’s recent misfortunes. After the Union and Phillies reached the championship round in 2022 before they ultimately fell short in the end, the Eagles followed suit in Super Bowl LVII.

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The Eagles surrendered a 10-point lead, and allowed the Chiefs to roll away with a 38-35 victory in the game’s final seconds when Harrison Butker kicked a 27-yard field goal to deliver Kansas City’s second championship in four years.

“I’m going to enjoy this one,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said of beating his former team. “This one’s unbelievable. Philadelphia did a great job, played a great game. But how ‘bout those ...” and the crowd said it with him, “CHIEFS.”

Jalen Hurts, the runner-up to Patrick Mahomes for league MVP, matched his counterpart throughout Super Bowl LVII. Hurts finished with a combined 374 yards and four total touchdowns, including three rushing scores, which tied a Super Bowl record. He dropped multiple dimes downfield, while favoring his top pass-catchers DeVonta Smith, A.J. Brown, and Dallas Goedert, with the trio combining for 19 catches, 256 yards, and one touchdown.

Hurts’ efforts provided the Eagles with a fighting chance, but it wasn’t enough to catapult the Eagles to their second Super Bowl title.

“This is tough,” Hurts said. “There’s so much to learn from. It’s a very tough feeling to come up short.”

» READ MORE: Mahomes and the Chiefs delivered in the end, but the Eagles have a greatness of their own

Hurts gifted the Chiefs with a touchdown off his critical turnover that occurred near the 10-minute mark of the second quarter. On the play, coach Nick Sirianni and offensive play-caller Shane Steichen dialed up a designed quarterback run. As Hurts attempted to get around the right edge, he lost control of the football. The ball tumbled in the opposite direction, and Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton scooped it up on the bounce and jogged 36 yards into the end zone to tie the score at 14.

Center Jason Kelce was quick to point out that Hurts rebounded from the team’s only postseason turnover, but those points proved to be the difference in a game that was decided on a last-minute field goal.

“I’m so proud of this team,” Hurts said. “We had a big-time goal in the end, and we came up short. The beautiful part is we experience different agony in life, and we decide how we want to move forward, how we want to learn. My only direction is to rise.”

In his third season, the Eagles have identified Hurts as their franchise quarterback. He’ll depart the desert longing for that winning feeling, but Hurts’ performance should have been enough to get it done. The comeback defeat ultimately falls on the defense.

Despite being hobbled by a high ankle sprain that he re-aggravated before halftime, Mahomes proved to be too difficult of a puzzle for Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon.

“I just want to shout-out my teammates,” said Mahomes, the Super Bowl MVP. “We challenged each other. It took everyone to win this football game.”

» READ MORE: Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes delivers game-winning drive to finish off Eagles in Super Bowl LVII

Mahomes rallied and picked apart Gannon’s zone-heavy scheme. He completed 21 of 27 passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns. The Eagles, who finished with most sacks in the NFL, failed to sack Mahomes even once. Reid supported Mahomes with an efficient run game. Tailbacks Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon combined for 19 carries, 110 rushing yards, and one touchdown. On a pair of late touchdown completions, the Eagles suffered from coverage busts after they failed to account for receivers in motion.

With the game still up in the air, Eagles second-team All-Pro cornerback James Bradberry was penalized for holding on third down late in the fourth quarter. Bradberry acknowledged there was some tugging involved, and said it was a play he’ll have to live with.

“We all had our mistakes today,” Kelce said. “All you can do at the end of the day is be accountable, and in the long run you’ll be better for it. I have so much respect for James. He’s an awesome teammate, an awesome player. He’s a huge reason why we’re here.”

Just a couple of years removed from an embarrassing four-win campaign in 2020, general manager Howie Roseman and the front office deserve kudos for their offseason efforts.

It started with the signing of edge rusher Haason Reddick, who grew up in Camden and starred at Temple. Reddick finished with the second-highest sack total in the NFL (16), and he became the first player in league history to record double-digit sacks in three consecutive seasons with three teams (also Panthers, Cardinals). Next came the team’s trade and subsequent $100 million extension for Brown, one of Hurts’ closest friends. The star receiver set a franchise record for most receiving yards in a single season, and he hauled in six catches for 96 yards and one touchdown against the Chiefs.

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The exclamation point was Bradberry, a cap cut casualty from the Giants, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson, whom the Eagles acquired in a late-summer trade with the Saints. Gardner-Johnson was inserted immediately at safety, a position he hadn’t played since early college, and he finished tied for the league lead in interceptions with six despite missing five games with a lacerated kidney.

The Eagles face uncertainty heading into the 2023 season. They have 10 starters, 11 including defensive end Brandon Graham, who are pending free agents. In addition to expected roster turnover, Hurts also is eligible for a contract extension for the first time in his career. Hurts joins Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, and Tua Tagovailoa as part of the soon-to-be-paid franchise quarterback club.

How Roseman shells out extension money could be largely set around Hurts’ asking price. The Eagles, who have two first-round selections in the NFL draft, will have plenty of work to do over the next several weeks and months.

While red and yellow confetti sprinkled all over the field, Sirianni broke down his team one final time from inside the Eagles locker room.

“I reminded them that the things we went through in our lives,” Sirianni said, “all types of adversity, it’s [a reminder] that we’ll overcome this, too. We’ll use this pain, this failure, to motivate us, so we turn it into a strength.”

» READ MORE: In an all-time great Super Bowl, the Eagles weren’t good enough. Oh, what could have been.