Super Bowl LIX
- Maggie Lipson
- Mar 5
- 8 min read
By Jonah Casel ‘27 (Reporter)
Fifty-nine years after the creation of the biggest championship in all of sports was created, two very special teams stepped up to face off in this past Super Bowl. On the AFC side, the Kansas City Chiefs took the stage. The Chiefs had won the past two Super Bowls, and, with their starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes under center, they were basically unstoppable when the playoffs came around. The Chiefs have represented the AFC in the Super Bowl in five of the last six years. They are the modern dynasty of the National Football League, and they were one-and-a-half-point favorites against a familiar foe, the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles represented the NFC side of the bracket, and they showed nothing short of dominance to get to the Super Bowl, winning thirteen straight games in which quarterback Jalen Hurts started and finished the game. The Eagles had been to the Super Bowl before with Hurts, but this time they were even stronger. In the previous offseason, the Eagles signed former second overall pick Saquon Barkley. Barkley ignited the offense in a way that not even the best analysts could have predicted, running for over 2000 yards and winning the Offensive Player of the Year award. The Eagles looked like the better team on paper, but fans had learned from previous years to never bet against Patrick Mahomes in a playoff game. It was a true clash between the NFL’s two best teams.
The week leading up to the Super Bowl was eventful in the city of New Orleans, just miles away from the Caesars Superdome, the home of the New Orleans Saints, where the game would be played on Sunday, February 9, 2025. Media week dragged on for both teams, but specifically for the Philadelphia Eagles, who got countless questions about a Super Bowl rematch in which they had lost the previous game in controversial fashion. Super Bowl LVII was the game with which the Chiefs began their potential three-peat, beating the Eagles 38-35 on a holding call that set up the go-ahead field goal with less than a minute left. The Eagles remembered that game like it was yesterday and desperately wanted to redeem themselves against the same opponent. For the Eagles, the Lombardi Trophy was in reach, and they wouldn’t let it slip away again. For the Chiefs, it was a chance at history. They would become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls in NFL history. The game meant more for both franchises than any other Super Bowl.
After a long week of interviews for both sides, Super Bowl Sunday hit, and the teams were ready to play the final game of the NFL season. The excitement was at an all-time high everywhere except for the two locker rooms. Both teams just acted like it was another game so as to not let the pressure of the moment in the spotlight get to them. At 6:30 pm EST, over a hundred million fans across the world were seated on their couches, ready to watch a football game that would put one organization into the history books, one way or another. After the stage was set, John Batiste sang the national anthem. Kansas City won the coin toss, and they deferred the kickoff, meaning the Philadelphia Eagles would begin the Super Bowl on offense.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ special teams unit sent the kick away to the Eagles, and the game was on. Jalen Hurts and his crew of players stepped onto the field and began their drive, closely watched by Chiefs’ Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Spagnuolo is one of the greatest defensive minds in NFL history, and he specializes in drawing up creative blitzes to get his players to pressure the opposing quarterback extremely quickly. Hurts would need to throw the ball quickly to avoid being sacked, or he would pay the price with huge yardage losses. They began the drive with a first down to wide receiver DeVonta Smith, a former Heisman Trophy winner from his days at Alabama. On the next set of downs, the Eagles were stuck with a tough decision on fourth down with two yards to go. The Eagles’ hyper-aggressive head coach, Nick Sirianni, decided to keep the offense on the field, and Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator, Kellen Moore, picked a deep pass play to wide receiver A.J. Brown. Hurts completed the pass for a first down, but it was called back due to a flag on Brown for offensive pass interference. This call nullified the first down and forced the Eagles to punt the ball away to the defending champs and give three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes a chance to score first.
The Chiefs opened up their drive with a signature Mahomes no-look pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster for a first down. Mahomes also had to get the ball out significantly quicker than usual because some of his key offensive linemen were injured, so it was much easier for the Eagles’ pass rushers to find gaps in the protection from the Kansas City O-line. Kansas City also had a tough matchup against the Eagles’ defense, who ranked first in total yardage. On the other hand, Patrick Mahomes had plenty of experience playing against defenses led by the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio. However, on the new set of downs, Fangio’s players got the best of Mahomes, allowing only one yard on the next three plays and forcing a punt. Five minutes had passed in the game, and there was no score.
The Eagles offense came alive on the following drive, with multiple passes for plenty of yardage to Dallas Goedert and Jahan Dotson, finishing with a touchdown on the signature “tush push” play with Jalen Hurts. They opened up Super Bowl LVII with the same play, also for the first touchdown of the game. This time, the team collectively hoped that there would be a different outcome from that game. After the touchdown, the Chiefs returned to the field ready to even the score, but their drive stalled immediately with three ineffective plays and a punt. The Chiefs won all three of their previous Super Bowls with Mahomes after trailing by ten points, so they were no strangers to a slow start, but this type of play from them was uncharacteristic. The Eagles’ next drive ran out the clock on the first quarter with the score of 7-0.
The second quarter began with the Eagles having the upper hand, but as they neared the Chiefs’ endzone, Jalen Hurts threw a risky pass meant for A.J. Brown that was intercepted by Chiefs’ safety Bryan Cook. This play generated significant momentum for the Chiefs, as they were able to do what no team had done yet in the playoffs: make the Eagles turn the ball over. However, the flame that was lit under the Chiefs offense on the interception was quickly extinguished, as Philadelphia continued to stop them on defense. Three more plays passed, and the Chiefs punter sent his third punt of the first half back to the Eagles’ returner, Cooper DeJean. Now with good field position, the Eagles took their drive into Kansas City’s territory but were stopped in field goal range. Jake Eliott knocked the ball right down the middle of the uprights to give the Eagles a ten point lead, the same lead that they had in Super Bowl LVII, the game they lost.
With a new two-score lead, the Eagles did not take their foot off the gas. They were determined not to give Mahomes and the Chiefs a sliver of hope to take the lead. The Kansas City drive began with two straight sacks by the Eagles pass rushers Josh Sweat and Jalyx Hunt. The pressure repeatedly got to Mahomes, and even he could not escape from the Eagles defensive line. The two big losses set up a third down and sixteen yards for Mahomes. He once again faced some pressure on the next snap, but this time he was ready for it. He scrambled out to the right side and hurled it downfield to his wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Mahomes was prepared for the pass rush, but he was not prepared for the Eagles’ slot cornerback, Cooper DeJean, to sweep across the field and intercept the pass. DeJean, with room to run, took the ball all the way to the near sideline and found downfield blockers. The rookie cornerback, who turned twenty-two years old on the day of the Super Bowl, found his way into the endzone as the city of Philadelphia collectively erupted into applause. The Eagles led 17-0.
The next drive began as Kansas City seemed to be stunned in disbelief. Despite playing almost a full half of football, the most creative offense in the NFL could not figure out the Eagles’ defense. On third and nine, Mahomes was sacked by Milton Williams, and the Chiefs punted again. They had not even passed the 50-yard-line yet. It was a truly unexpected and disappointing first half performance from the Chiefs. They were able to stop Philadelphia and force a punt on the next drive, but then an even bigger disaster struck the Chiefs. On the first play after the punt, Mahomes threw the ball across the middle of the field, which was patrolled by the Eagles’ All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun. Baun dove and caught the ball, turning it over again on the Chiefs’ side of the field. Philadelphia was dominating the game on defense and making the game easy for Jalen Hurts and the offense. Hurts was set up with excellent field position, and in only two plays, he found his top wide receiver, A.J. Brown, for a twelve-yard touchdown. The Eagles were putting on a show in the first half, leading 24-0. The Chiefs could do nothing to defend, and the half ended scoreless for the two-time defending champs.
After the halftime show, which was a fantastic, thought-provoking performance by Kendrick Lamar, the game resumed. The Chiefs got the ball to begin the third quarter, and it was more of the same on offense: two sacks, one by Jordan Davis and the other by Josh Sweat, and a punt. Fans across the world had assumed that offensive masterminds Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes would figure out a way to exploit the Philadelphia defense, but they could not. On offense, the Eagles made their way down the field in a drive featuring a Saquon Barkley bobbling catch and took their second field goal of the game. With a lead of 27-0, they were on track to demolish the record for largest Super Bowl blowout of all time.
Any NFL fan would expect the Super Bowl to be a close game, or for the Chiefs to show an effort to make changes to their gameplan, but neither one happened. Beginning their ninth drive halfway through the third quarter, the Chiefs still had yet to cross the fifty-yard line on offense. At this point in the game, the Eagles had begun to put their backups in, and even they were making great plays for Philadelphia. On a fourth down play, Avonte Maddox broke up a pass from Mahomes to turn the ball over again for the Eagles. Everything was going right for Philadelphia, and everything was going wrong for the Chiefs. On the first play after the turnover on downs, Nick Sirianni and Kellen Moore decided on a play that would go down in Philadelphia sports history. It was a play action pass that left Jalen Hurts with plenty of time to throw a deep ball and give Devonta Smith time to make separation against an inexperienced cornerback for the Chiefs. Hurts let the ball fly 46 yards downfield, and Smith made the connection in the end zone. The score became 34-0, and the play was deemed “The Dagger” by FOX Sports’ play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt. It was a perfect call on a perfect play for the Eagles.
After that score, the game was over. All that was left to happen was for the clock to hit zero. The Chiefs put up twenty-two points on the scoreboard, but no Eagles’ key players were on the field. Nick Sirianni was given the signature gatorade shower before the two minute warning had even hit. It was a Super Bowl blowout for the ages, with a score of 40-22, and Jalen Hurts was crowned Super Bowl MVP. In a season where the Kansas City Chiefs arguably relied on a lot of luck to get to where they were, they were unable to finish the three-peat, and the Philadelphia Eagles reached the top of the NFL for the second time in the Super Bowl era. This Eagles team had the exact right combination of talent and hunger to win, and they played their best football at the right time. They look to begin their title defense in week one on Thursday Night Football, and their hunger to win has not been satisfied yet.
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