Eagles soar to blowout Super Bowl win over Chiefs

The Philadelphia Eagles dominated the Chiefs 40-22 in Sunday’s Super Bowl in New Orleans to deny Kansas City their bid for a third consecutive title and exact brutal revenge for their loss to the team in the NFL title game two years ago.

The Eagles bullied the Chiefs from start to finish behind an overwhelming defensive effort that caused six sacks of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes including a strip sack with less than 10 minutes to play that ended any hopes of a comeback.

In the city where jazz was born, versatile Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was a masterful conductor, making music with his legs and his arm to score three total touchdowns.

“I’ve just been able to use every experience and learn from it,” Hurts said.

“The good, the bad, all of it, using it as fuel to pursue my own greatness. I couldn’t do any of these things without the guys around me.

“We had a special group this year. We were able to learn from the past and get some nice new pieces and get over that hump.”

Hurts finished 17-of-22 for 221 passing yards and rushed for 72 more, the Super Bowl MVP’s only misstep was a first half interception that ultimately proved harmless.

It was the Eagles’ second Super Bowl title after they beat the New England Patriots in 2018 and it played out before a sold-out crowd at the Superdome that included U.S. President Donald Trump, pop superstar Taylor Swift and a bevy of other A-list celebrities.

It marked the first time a sitting president had attended a Super Bowl and Trump watched the first half before leaving.

The win spelled sweet revenge for the Eagles after their heartbreaking 38-35 defeat to the Chiefs in Phoenix two years ago.

“You can’t be great without the greatness of others,” said Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni on the field while embracing his family and shedding tears of joy.

“This is the best team sport there is. It took everybody, I’m so happy.”

EAGLES FLYING START

The Eagles got the scoring started with their signature play – a goal line move they call the “brotherly shove” in reference to Philadelphia’s “City of Brotherly Love” nickname – with Hurts plowing into the end zone behind his powerful offensive line as his teammates forced him forward.

Eagles’ rookie defensive back Cooper DeJean picked off a poor pass from Mahomes in the second quarter and scampered 38 yards to score Philadelphia’s second touchdown on the rookie’s 22nd birthday.

Mahomes was intercepted again late in the first half and two plays later the Eagles found the end zone once more as Hurts connected with receiver A.J. Brown.

The Eagles led 24-0 going into halftime and continued to roll after the break, as Avonte Maddox broke up a pass on an attempted fourth down conversion in the third quarter.

On the next play Hurts delivered a 46-yard strike to DeVonta Smith to build a 34-0 lead and the celebration was on for the many vocal Eagles fans in attendance.

The Chiefs finally got on the board in the waning moments of the third quarter with a touchdown pass from Mahomes to rookie Xavier Worthy.

Eagles kicker Jake Elliott completed two of his four successful field goal attempts in the second half to extend the lead to 40-6.

The Chiefs would tack on two more touchdowns after the game was well out of reach, with Sirianni receiving a Gatorade bath long before the two-minute warning, as receivers Brown and Smith poured the yellow sports drink over his head, utterly soaking the 43-year-old play caller.

Eagles dazzling running back Saquon Barkley grabbed 57 rushing yards and broke the all-time NFL record for most rushing yards in a regular season plus playoffs, to add icing to the Eagles’ championship cake.

Barkley joined the Eagles in the offseason and transformed the team’s offense with his explosive playmaking.

“Obviously, when you put the resources in to take away Saquon, there’s other things open up, and so that’s what we said,” Sirianni said.

“We don’t care how we win, and we don’t care about anyone’s opinion of how we should win. We just want to win.”